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  3. The Secular Bible
  • Cited by 15
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
June 2012
Print publication year:
2005
Online ISBN:
9780511614828
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511614828
Subjects:
Philosophy of Religion, Biblical Studies - Old Testament, Hebrew Bible, Religion
Information

Book description

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.

Reviews

'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

'This book would not lie flat on the desk as I was reading it, but kept jumping up trying to bite my fingers. This was, I don't doubt, a design feature introduced by the publisher in conformity with its contents … Not only is Berlinerblau's book passionate, vivacious, and witty, and his footnotes exceedingly learned, his gut instinct is surely right, that there is something wrong with the discipline of Hebrew Bible studies if the vast majority of its professionals are adherents to its religion. You don't need to be questioning the bona fides of any particular individual scholar to be alarmed at the fact that most people who research on the Hebrew Bible have an investment in it, in its 'truth' in the broadest sense, in its value … He has applied to our discipline the Socratic principle, 'The unexamined life is not worth living," and made it clear to all with ears to hear that the unexamined profession is not worth professing.'

David J. A. Clines - University of Sheffield

'The Secular Bible is highly recommended for all levels of students and scholars, not only for those specializing in the Bible or Qur'an but also for those immersed in the questions of theory and methods. It is rare to find a well-researched scholarly book written with such jumpy energy and serious humor.'

Source: Journal of the American Academy of Religion

'… crisply argued … a serious, scholarly, and well-argued treatment of issues surrounding the origins, tradition of interpretation, and contemporary (ir)relevance of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament.'

Source: Conversations in Religion and Theology

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