A Humanist Bible?

According to Jewish tradition, the Torah was delivered to Moses by God on Mount Sinai thousands of years ago. A.C. Grayling's The Good Book claims humbler origins. That text was given to us by an English philosophy professor this past summer.

Christopher Hitchens’s Jewish Problem  Benjamin Kerstein,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  The "new atheists" are particularly hostile to Judaism. A case in point is Hitchens, who for years has indulged freely in some of the most barbarous and defamatory stereotypes about the Jewish people.  SAVE

Let’s Abolish Religion! . . . or Not  Elizabeth Weingarten,  Slate.  Grayling and Darwin descendant Matthew Chapman face off against Rabbi David Wolpe and Evangelical commentator Dinesh D'Souza.  SAVE

The (God-Free) Good Life  Nina Rastogi,  Slate.  Grayling recommends five titles for their perspectives "on how to live a satisfying and morally good life."  SAVE

Secular U.  Mathew N. Schmalz,  Washington Post.  What might Grayling's "atheist university" look like? Like a conservative Catholic or Evangelical Christian institution, perhaps.  SAVE

The Bible and the Good Life  Aryeh Tepper,  Jewish Ideas Daily.  Arguing with God is one thing. Where is the evidence that the Bible is a philosophical text?  SAVE

Toward a Jewish Humanism  Shai Held,  Haaretz.  The moral philosophy embraced by a religious-Zionist leader in the mid-20th century is in urgent need of revival.  SAVE

SAVE "A Humanist Bible?"

"Jerusalem," William Blake.

The Holy Land of England

The King James Bible, along with the Book of Common Prayer, Shakespeare, and Milton, transformed the English language, introducing a vibrant lexicon that is used to this day.  It also fused biblical mythology with concepts of English national identity.

Holy Writ  Edward Rothstein,  New York Times.  Transforming the English language, the King James Version also permanently shaped English and Western ideas about human nature, freedom, and responsibility.  SAVE

Trading Routes and Construction  The Map as History.  Animated maps showing the worldwide expansion of British rule, step by step.  SAVE

Cataracts, Hips, Knees, and Tonsils  Oliver Wright,  Independent.  These are among the surgeries being rationed to save money for the National Health Service.  SAVE

God's Secretaries  Adam Nicolson,  HarperCollins.  How great English prose emerged from the era of the Gunpowder Plot and the plague.  SAVE

SAVE "The Holy Land of England"

Jonah and the Music of Yom Kippur

Leviticus 10 tells us that Aaron's sons Nadav and Avihu died for bringing "strange fire" before the Lord in the wilderness. As a result of their deaths, according to Leviticus 16, God instructed Moses to ordain an annual Day of Atonement.

My Favorite Book in the Bible  Harold Bloom,  New York Review of Books.  Jonah is a sly masterpiece, a parody of prophetic solemnities, a magnificent piece of literature because it is so funny.  SAVE

The Bible Scholar Who Didn’t Know Hebrew  Anthony Grafton,  Jewish Review of Books.  Elias Bickerman may not have heard all the harmonies in Jonah, but he heard much else.  SAVE

Kol Nidrei Quartet  John Zorn,  Milken Archive of Jewish Music.  Neither a setting nor an arrangement, John Zorn's clever and imaginative composition evokes Yom Kippur's mood of awe and introspection. (Audio)  SAVE

Chromatic Vows  Arnold Schoenberg,  Milken Archive of Jewish Music.  Arnold Schoenberg's Kol Nidrei takes a drastic departure from tradition. (Audio)  SAVE

SAVE "Jonah and the Music of Yom Kippur"

Where Have All the Prophets Gone?

Writing in 1911, Martin Buber declared that "the nature of the prophets" lives within the Jewish people. A hundred years later, do any Jews still believe this?

Jakob’s Dream  Angela Levine,  Midnight East.  An outstanding exhibit at the Israel Museum illuminates Jakob Steinhardt's visionary interpretation of modern Jewish history.  SAVE

SAVE "Where Have All the Prophets Gone?"