Review: What We Do Not Know About God and People in the Bible
What We Do Not Know About God and People in the Bible by Israel Drazin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a short and extremely interesting book that basically asks questions about scripture (specifically the Book of Genesis) and tradition to which we don’t have any specific answer (and may only speculate and/or presume). There are a few sections where the author provides some context, such as the etymology of some of the words substituted for the name God; however, the majority was simply questions without much exposition. An example from Chapter 2: “If the two trees were dangerous, why did God place then in the garden?” This continues for 22 chapters over nearly 100 pages (so the chapters are obviously very short). For the most part, I found the questions to be good and very thought provoking … and therein lies the primary appeal to this book … many religious communities force conformity to the point that questions are not tolerated; this book not only gives us permission to have questions, but it is also okay to be unable to answer them (or by extension tolerate the diversity of speculations born out of our own imaginations). It was a fun book and highly recommended.
Part One - Over 400 Examples of Obscurities in the Biblical Book Genesis
1. God’s Name
2. God’s Behavior
3. Adam and Eve
4. Cain and Abel
5. A Descendent of Cain
6. Abraham
7. Sarah
8. Visitors
9. The Description of Many Cites
10. New Focus on Abraham
11. Abraham’s Nephew
12. Isaac
13. Rebekah
14. Jacob
15. Patriarchs’ Religious Practices
16. Dinah
17. Judah
18. Rachel
19. Joseph
20. Biblical Chapters
Part Two - Mistaken Idea about Jewish Ethics and Behavior
21. Ethics over Law
22. Way to Worship God
I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
#WhatWeDontKnowAboutGod #LibraryThing
View all my reviews
This was a short and extremely interesting book that basically asks questions about scripture (specifically the Book of Genesis) and tradition to which we don’t have any specific answer (and may only speculate and/or presume). There are a few sections where the author provides some context, such as the etymology of some of the words substituted for the name God; however, the majority was simply questions without much exposition. An example from Chapter 2: “If the two trees were dangerous, why did God place then in the garden?” This continues for 22 chapters over nearly 100 pages (so the chapters are obviously very short). For the most part, I found the questions to be good and very thought provoking … and therein lies the primary appeal to this book … many religious communities force conformity to the point that questions are not tolerated; this book not only gives us permission to have questions, but it is also okay to be unable to answer them (or by extension tolerate the diversity of speculations born out of our own imaginations). It was a fun book and highly recommended.
Part One - Over 400 Examples of Obscurities in the Biblical Book Genesis
1. God’s Name
2. God’s Behavior
3. Adam and Eve
4. Cain and Abel
5. A Descendent of Cain
6. Abraham
7. Sarah
8. Visitors
9. The Description of Many Cites
10. New Focus on Abraham
11. Abraham’s Nephew
12. Isaac
13. Rebekah
14. Jacob
15. Patriarchs’ Religious Practices
16. Dinah
17. Judah
18. Rachel
19. Joseph
20. Biblical Chapters
Part Two - Mistaken Idea about Jewish Ethics and Behavior
21. Ethics over Law
22. Way to Worship God
I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
#WhatWeDontKnowAboutGod #LibraryThing
View all my reviews
Popular posts from this blog
Dominican Inquirer
Technically speaking, this is really more of an independent, unstructured, investigation of a particular Lay Dominican Fraternity, where you can attend meetings as a guest with no particular commitment ... sort of a "try it before you buy it" approach to see if you and the fraternity members are even remotely compatible. Given some of the conflict within the American Church today ... this might not be a given. As might be expected, there can be strong personalities and intense beliefs about how to approach the faith within the fraternities that can reflect the same divisions that are seen in the Church at large. However, there are also some additional questions to contemplate to see if you might be a fit for the Dominican Family in general. Each of the Major Orders that have tertiaries (third orders) share their specific charisms (gifts) with their lay members, so in addition to a general desire for a deeper spiritual devotion to the faith, there are elem...
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle C)
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector Lectionary: 150 Reading 1 - Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18 [sic] Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 34:2-3, 17-18, 19, 23 Reading 2 - 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 Alleluia - 2 Corinthians 5:19 Gospel - Luke 18:9-14 '... for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.' In today’s Gospel, Jesus presents us with the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. This story is closely connected to the one which comes just before it about the persistent widow who secures a just decision from a dishonest judge. While the first encourages us to pray and never give up. The second reminds us how, and in what manner, we ought to pray. However, to fully understand the example Jesus gives us, we should look more closely at first the century audience that He initially spoke to. A faithful Jew at that time would have assumed two things: That the Pharisee was a very holy and devout man. And that...
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A)
Word of God Sunday Lectionary: 67 Reading 1 - Isaiah 8:23—9:3 Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 27:1, 4, 13-14 Reading 2 - 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17 Alleluia - Matthew 4:23 Gospel - Matthew 4:12-23 The Promise of Salvation Under a New Davidic King. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light … In the first act of creation, God created light and “saw that the light was good. God then separated the light from the darkness.” (Genesis 1:4) … However, light and darkness are more than just opposites; they are symbols, metaphors, and emotional currents that have shaped our understanding of the world around us for centuries. Within the stories we tell each other, we find a natural contrast between what is seen and what is hidden, between safety and the unknown, between clarity and mystery. This duality of light and dark exists because of one’s relationship to the other … and our experiences of the two. For those of us who have spent any time on the w...
Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle C)
Lazarus and the Rich Man (Dives) Lectionary: 138 Reading 1 - Amos 6:1a, 4-7 Responsorial Psalm - Psalm 146:7, 8-9, 9-10 Reading 2 - 1 Timothy 6:11-16 Alleluia - Cf. 2 Corinthians 8:9 Gospel - Luke 16:19-31 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.' Justice, both socially and spiritually, is at the heart of today’s readings. Social Justice is about seeing the “unseen”… remembering the “forgotten” in our society. It’s about the men, women and children who only want a better life in a world that God has given to all of us, just not a select few. In our first reading from the Hebrew Scriptures, we hear from Amos, the prophet of social justice. God called him to speak to the rich of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel. The country was about to be destroyed by the Assyrians while the wealthy “lie on beds of ivory” and “drink wine from bowls,” confident that “the ruin of Joseph” ...
Comments
Post a Comment