This book is an essential element of The Western Civilization. But it's not the ONLY book. If you want to to understand the ancient base material for our culture you'd have to include Plato's Republic,the works of Aristotle, Euclid's Geometry and some others that I can't recall. These books have had a heavy influence on the thought patterns of just about every civilization west of the Nile, that is why it's called Western Civilization(I think). So the focus on JUST the Hebrew Bible is kinda silly.

Taken TOGETHER these books comprise the core of Western Thought,for better or worse. The thought process conveyed in all these books have mixed and mingled over the centuries. It's hard to untangle where the influence of one book ends and others begin. In fact much of the discussion about the Hebrew Bible is a dialogue, a form of conversation and learning found in Plato's Republic.