The Secular Bible – Why Nonbelievers Must Take Religion Seriously

The Secular Bible Why Nonbelievers Must Take Religion Seriously

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to emancipate themselves from ways of thinking about their faith that are dangerously simplistic, irrational and outdated.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 in which 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.

User Ratings and Reviews

2 Stars Tedious
First of all, the claim that secularists should know the Bible is obvious. Then the notion that they don't take the Bible seriously enough depends on what is meant. They may indeed only take its threat seriously when they are forced to by the depredations of dangerous religious enthusiasts. Should they take it seriously at other times? Why? It is a marvelous collection of nonsense indeed.

The author is correct in doubting that biblical scholars will ever convince believers that the Bible isn't what they think it is. For almost four hundred years now, since at least Spinoza, we know the Bible is not God's word or anything like that, but believers still insist on their fairy stories and especially on The Blue Fairy of desire.

This book doesn't do me any good. I don't know if someone else will find it useful, I suspect not.

4 Stars High brow discussion of religion.
Good book,

author is clearly coming from a secular perspective and presents his ideas coherently and even humorously.

From an academic perspective I was disappointed that Christianity's cornerstone, the New Testament, was not discussed.

John Grieve.

1 Star Written by an absolute pedant
While i can hold my own pointlessly reciting quotes from the different books of the bible, I am not and have never been convinced that things become more true, when written down.

Sadly, a byproduct of our text-oriented language is that things do gain a certain measure of "authority" just by virtue of having been printed, and the general public reads too little obvious crap to become aware of this bias in their judgment.

The author explains to us how he finds it very frustrating that people are mocking, and even worse ignoring his hobby, and although he does so in rather circumspect ways, his opinion on the matter is very noticeable, and he does his utmost to make sure we won't miss it.

1 Star Arrogant, Silly Book
There have been some excellent books recently on the subject of religion by the great evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, the brilliant philosopher Daniel Dennett, the writer/journalist Christopher Hitchens and Neuroscientist Sam Harris. This book is not in that class. The author arrogantly asserts that Non-believers MUST take religion seriously, without ever explaining why. Well, sorry. Religion is a vestige of humanity's primitive past which we would be much better without. If religion is allowed to hold sway, we may not make it out of the 21st century, as the religions nutcases will blow us all to smithereens. Furthermore, the author displays his bias when he says that he prefers that secularism always remain the minority view. Of course, this is likely, considering the preponderence of idiots on the planet, but we can hope that the mass of humanity can be enlightened through education.

2 Stars Doesn't make any sense
Why Nonbelievers Must Take Religion Seriously? Because, Berlinerblau claims:

1) It is not clear who wrote the Bible

2) It is not clear what the Bible means

3) It is not clear whether the Bible is against Jewish intermarriage or not (in some parts it is clearly against it, but not in others)

4) It is not clear whether the Bible is against homosexuals (it only says they should die!)

Well, given the question, these answers don't make any sense to me.

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