In The Secular Bible: Why Nonbelievers Must Take Religion Seriously, Jacques Berlinerblau explores the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, though an explicitly critical and secular perspective, reviewing how it has been interpreted from antiquity to today and how these interpretations impact our current political debates. In separate chapters, he looks at how the Bible continues to be invoked in disputes about Jewish identity, intermarriage, and about homosexuality - offering secular readers background and ideas for joining conversations about scripture. Finally, he suggests ways in which secularists in all countries need to pose such questions about all sacred texts and religious phenomena. Cumulatively, the book is a first attempt to re-invigorate a once-estimable secular, intellectual tradition.
Table of contents:
Introduction: secularists and the not-Godless world; Part I. The Composition of the Hebrew Bible: 1. Who wrote the Bible? (Ancient response); 2. Who wrote the Bible? (Modern response); 3. The secular answer to 'who wrote the Bible?'; Part II. The Interpreters of the Hebrew Bible: 4. Why is there so much biblical interpretation?; 5. Introducing biblical scholars and secular interpretations; Part III. Politics and Scripture: 6. On Jewish intermarriage: the Bible is open to interpretation; 7. Same-sex eroticism and Jerry Falwell; 8. The secular Qur'an?; Conclusion: beyond church and state: new directions for secularism.
In The Secular Bible: Why Nonbelievers Must Take Religion Seriously, Jacques Berlinerblau explores the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, through an explicitly critical and secular perspective, reviewing how it has been interpreted from antiquity to today and how these interpretations impact our current political debates.
An exploration of the Hebrew Bible and its impact on current political debates.
Hinweis: Dieser Artikel kann nur an eine deutsche Lieferadresse ausgeliefert werden.
Table of contents:
Introduction: secularists and the not-Godless world; Part I. The Composition of the Hebrew Bible: 1. Who wrote the Bible? (Ancient response); 2. Who wrote the Bible? (Modern response); 3. The secular answer to 'who wrote the Bible?'; Part II. The Interpreters of the Hebrew Bible: 4. Why is there so much biblical interpretation?; 5. Introducing biblical scholars and secular interpretations; Part III. Politics and Scripture: 6. On Jewish intermarriage: the Bible is open to interpretation; 7. Same-sex eroticism and Jerry Falwell; 8. The secular Qur'an?; Conclusion: beyond church and state: new directions for secularism.
In The Secular Bible: Why Nonbelievers Must Take Religion Seriously, Jacques Berlinerblau explores the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, through an explicitly critical and secular perspective, reviewing how it has been interpreted from antiquity to today and how these interpretations impact our current political debates.
An exploration of the Hebrew Bible and its impact on current political debates.
Hinweis: Dieser Artikel kann nur an eine deutsche Lieferadresse ausgeliefert werden.
'In well-wrought prose and with a frolicsome sense of humor, Berlinerblau poses questions that will disquiet thinking secularists as much as they will those committed to religion. By distinguishing between what traditions say about the origin of the Bible and how they interpret it, he opens door to making the same distinction between what critical biblical scholarship has to say about biblical origins and biblical interpretation. Berlinerblau's book raises questions in a clever, intriguing way that will stimulate serious thought and discussion long after it is put down.' Ziony Zevit, author of The Religions of Ancient Israel