Abstract
The religions of the book, Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, all believe in a God who fashioned the world. From this belief they draw two very different lessons.
The first is that of universally binding laws, laws whose coherence can be traced back to their having a single source, namely God's creative action. The second is the opposite of this.
As occurring prior to the world, God's creative action is not bound by the world or its laws. The lesson here is that of a radical alterity in the heart of being.
God's being and action are different than that of the world he creates. The first lesson leads to the conception of religion as having a universally binding character.
The second, when conjoined with the belief that man is the "image" of God, emphasizes human freedom-i.e., his ability to transcend the world. My contribution explores how the religions of the book deal with these different insights.