Synopses & Reviews
Written by the man Time magazine called one of the seven best preachers in America, The Good Book is a brilliant and inspiring look at the Bible today. Beginning with a bracing crash course in biblical literacy and interpretation, Gomes proceeds to rescue the Bible from those who would misuse its passages to alienate and exclude. In stirring chapters on what the Bible says to us about anti-Semitism, women, homosexuality, and race, Gomes suggests new ways to read and interpret Scripture. Finally, with compassion, humor, and refreshing originality, Gomes seeks to illuminate what the Bible has to say about suffering, joy, evil, temptation, wealth, science, mystery, and the good life. This wise book gives us the tools we need to make the Bible a dynamic, living, and transforming part of our daily lives.
-- A major national bestseller: The Good Book appeared on The New York Times, USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe, and Wordstock bestseller lists.
"Brilliant and thought-provoking...a wonderful road map to a text that, if read properly, can provide solace and wisdom in troubled times". -- Boston Globe
"This fine work reflects Gomes's great intelligence, open mind, humanity, wisdom, and struggle to understand the meaning of life and God's word". -- Marian Wright Edelman, President, the Children's Defense Fund
"I am thrilled by this book...easily the best contemporaryy book on the Bible for thoughtful people...a triumph of scholarship and devotion". -- The Right Reverend Lord Runcie, 102nd Archbishop of Canterbury
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"Easily the best contemporary book on the Bible for thoughtful people." The Right Reverend Lord Runcie, 102nd Archbishop of Canterbury
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"This is a reading not from the right or the left but from the living, loving heart of scripture." Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature
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“...Reflects Gomess great intelligence, open mind, humanity, wisdom, and struggle to understand the meaning of life and Gods word.” Marian Wright Edelman, president, Children's Defense Fund
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"...One of America's most compelling preachers ... a writer with flair and eloquence." Harvey Cox, author of Fire from Heaven
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"A riveting tour of this holy book with the guide both witty and wise ... great work of scholarship and imagination." Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
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"Lively...offers a crash course in biblical literacy in a nuanced but easy-to-understand style." Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Synopsis
"The Bible and the social and moral consequences that derive from its interpretation are all too important to be left in the hands of the pious or the experts, and too significant to be ignored and trivialized by the uninformed and indifferent.
About the Author
Peter J. Gomes has been minister of Harvard University's Memorial Church since 1974, when he was appointed Pusey Minister of the church, and serves as Plummer Professor of Christian Morals. An American Baptist minister, he was named one of America's top preachers by Time magazine. He is the recipient of thirty-three honorary degrees and an Honorary Fellow of Emmanuel College, the University of Cambridge, England, where the Gomes Lectureship is established in his name.
Table of Contents
What's it all about? -- A matter of interpretation -- The Bible in America -- Hard texts and changing times -- The Bible and race : the moral imagination -- The Bible and anti-Semitism : Christianity's original sin -- The Bible and women : the conflicts of inclusion -- The Bible and homosexuality : the last prejudice -- The Bible and the good life -- The Bible and suffering -- The Bible and joy -- The Bible and evil -- The Bible and temptation -- The Bible and wealth -- The Bible and science -- The Bible and mystery.