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breadth of knowledge, the literary skill, and-yes-the audacity to
conceive of a powerful, secular alternative to the Bible. But that is
exactly what A.C. Grayling has done by creating a non-religious Bible,
drawn from the wealth of secular literature and philosophy in both
Western and Eastern traditions, using the same techniques of editing,
redaction, and adaptation that produced the holy books of the
Judaeo-Christian and Islamic religions. The Good Book consciously
takes its design and presentation from the Bible, in its beauty of
language and arrangement into short chapters and verses for ease of
reading and quotability, offering to the non-religious seeker all the
wisdom, insight, solace, inspiration, and perspective of secular
humanist traditions that are older, far richer and more various than
Christianity. Organized in 12 main sections——Genesis, Histories,
Widsom, The Sages, Parables, Consolations, Lamentations, Proverbs,
Songs, Epistles, Acts, and the Good——The Good Book opens with
meditations on the origin and progress of the world and human life in
it, then devotes attention to the question of how life should be lived,
how we relate to one another, and how vicissitudes are to be faced and
joys appreciated. Incorporating the writing of Herodotus and Lucretius,
Confucius and Mencius, Seneca and Cicero, Montaigne, Bacon, and so many
others, The Good Book will fulfill its audacious purpose in every way.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
April 5, 2011 -
Formats
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780802778383
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780802778383
- File size: 696 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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April 15, 2011
Grayling (philosophy, Birkbeck Coll., Univ. of London; Ideas That Matter) has risen to controversial eminence as a public intellectual. This book, which his publisher rightly describes as "audacious," continues his humanist explorations with his creation of an entire scripture for atheists and agnostics. Grayling's "Genesis" has Isaac Newton's apple, rather than Eve's; the wars of Persia against Greece take the place of the rise of Davidic Israel; the lives of Lycurgus, Pericles, and Cicero stand for the wanderings of Jesus's disciples. Grayling's cagey "Epistle to the Reader" does not suggest why his humanist replacements, e.g., the defeat of Persia--in which no one emerges with much credit--have more power than, say, the death of Absalom. Throughout are faint echoes of Chinese poets, Seneca the Younger, Herodotus, Thucydides, and the Bible itself, which will simply leave many hungry for the originals. VERDICT This reasonable, rationalistic, and dull "scripture" is likely to make informed readers long for the spiky, idiosyncratic poems, histories, essays, and narratives Grayling's work at once springs from and criticizes. Some convinced humanists may enjoy this, and it may appeal to nontheistic denominations and congregations in search of a worship resource. Not likely to be of interest to the general reader.--Graham Christian, Pelham, MA
Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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