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The Secular Bible - Why Nonbelievers Must Take Religion Seriously (Hardcover)
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The Secular Bible - Why Nonbelievers Must Take Religion Seriously (Hardcover)
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Today's secularists too often have very little accurate knowledge
about religion, and even less desire to learn. This is problematic
insofar as their sense of self is constructed in opposition to
religion. Above all, the secularist is not a Jew, is not a
Christian, not a Muslim, and so on. But is it intellectually
responsible to define one's identity against something that one
does not understand? And what happens when these secularists weigh
in on contentious political issues, blind to the religious
back-story or concerns that inevitably inform these debates? In The
Secular Bible: Why Nonbelievers Must Take Religion Seriously
Jacques Berlinerblau suggests that atheists and agnostics must take
stock of that which they so adamantly oppose. Defiantly maintaining
a shallow understanding of religion, he argues, is not a
politically prudent strategy in this day and age. But this book is
no less critical of many believers, who--Berlinerblau
contends--need to emancipate themselves from ways of thinking about
their faith that are dangerously simplistic, irrational and
outdated. Exploring the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, from the
perspective of a specialist, nonbeliever, and critic of the
academic religious studies establishment, Berlinerblau begins by
offering a provocative answer to the question of "who wrote the
Bible?" The very peculiar way in which this text was composed
provides a key to understanding its unique power (and
vulnerability) in the modern public sphere. In separate chapters,
he looks at how the sparse and contradictory words of Scripture are
invoked in contemporary disputes about Jewish intermarriage and
homosexuality in the Christian world. Finally, he examines ways
inwhich the Qur'an might be subject to the types of secular
interpretation advocated throughout this book. Cumulatively, this
book is a first attempt to reinvigorate an estimable secular,
intellectual tradition, albeit one that is currently experiencing a
moment of crisis.
General
Imprint: |
Cambridge UniversityPress
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
September 2005 |
First published: |
2005 |
Authors: |
Jacques Berlinerblau
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Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 17mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover
|
Pages: |
232 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-521-85314-9 |
Categories: |
Books
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LSN: |
0-521-85314-1 |
Barcode: |
9780521853149 |
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