The Good Book: A Humanist Bible (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
A flawed book. My first warning bell went off when I turned to the back of the book and went through the list of authors used as source texts. I noted there are one, maybe two, women listed. Women and their writing lie outside of the human experience expressed in this book. If there were fewer women allowed to write in earlier generations then what has been preserved of their writings should be valued with greater weight.Looking through it I find little about sexuality, whether erotica or identity. Strike two.I'm not sure how to use this book. It does not lend itself to meditation. It could be a teaching book. It comes without commentary. It has no 'theology', for want of a better word. Perhaps that is the work of a future interpreter of this book. Otherwise this is a book to go on the shelf, an academic curiosity. A shame because the only other book I've read by A. C. Grayling was challenging and engaging.I haven't read every chapter. I find The Lawgiver a valuable chapter. That could be a good tract to spread as widely as possible.I write this review as a religious theist. Of course my own worldview is one of the other human experiences that is excluded from the secular humanism of the Good Book. In a sense this book is a kind of benchmark. It encapsulates many excellent examples of secular norms and values which could very well stand for true and excellent human values suitable for any walk of life, without succumbing to the usually more punitive values espoused by many religions. Graylings sources are many and varied, and global in their extent. There are no gods here, nor angels and/or demons: just human beings, offering advice and interpretations about our human existence and how to deal with it on human terms.Grayling uses a style and format which mimics the so-called sacred books of other religions, often more of less randomly splitting up the texts into chapters and neat verses — a style I personally did not respond to readily, especially in the more narrative Histories and Acts sections, for example. I found this approach continuously interrupted the flow of the stories, and created a kind of compulsive drive which I think could have been tempered by the judicious addition of more headings to separate more or less distinct sections. It also made me realise how traditional Bibles, by adopting this (very late) method of accessing their writings, can make individual verses take on more 'significance' than they would normally justify. Personally, I would also have preferred a more annotated text as well, and I believe the book would benefit with a comprehensive Index of subjects and subject matters for easier access. Perhaps these are things future editors could furnish…Regardless, there are wonderful descriptions of life and living on earth, of tender consolations, of songs of joy and sadness, of solid advice, on dealing with adversities, on being, well, human. The sad part of all of this, however, is that, just like any similar book, whether religious or not, which provides such wisdom and understanding, it will not be read by the many (who should read it, but find it 'boring') but rather by a few dedicated persons who have meditated on life and understand its beauty and sadness, and can respond to the writings of global writers on how to live a good life. The latter, of course, do not need a book such as this: they live it.But it doesn't matter. The real benefit of this work lies in its existence. When religiously minded people who believe (and constantly refer to that belief in their diatribes against Atheists, for example) that there can be no sense of good and evil, no morality and no good life without their (or another type of) religion, one can now reply quite calmly: 'Read Grayling's "The Good Book".'
What do You think about The Good Book: A Humanist Bible (2011)?
In my blog "The Autarkist" I've written several reviews, taking each book separately. I also wrote a broad review for societyofepicurus.com.
Having read thus far, I can say that the book contains several wisdom traditions (on friendship, in the book Concord; on leadership in the book Lawgiver; etc.), plus history portions, plus proverbs, etc.
It really is a beautiful piece of literature, just needs to be read slowly and with focus.
—Hiram Crespo
Just started reading The Good Book. I'm on page 50 and so far I love it.
—spicer_paris
A wonderful resource. I'll be returning to it again and again.
—darci
