Ще бъдете като богове

by Erich Fromm, Ерих Фром (Автор)

Erich Fromm’s innovative analysis of the Old Testament as a striking early example of radical humanism The Old Testament is one of the most carefully studied books in the world’s history. It is also one of the most misunderstood. This founding text of the world’s three largest religions is also, Erich Fromm argues, an impressive radical humanist text. He sees the stories of mankind’s transition from divided clans to united brotherhood as a tribute to the human power to overcome. Filled with hopeful symbolism, You Shall Be As Gods shows how the Old Testament and its tradition is an inspiring ode to human potential.

Genres: Religion, Philosophy, Psychology, Nonfiction, Theology, History, Judaism

270 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Erich Fromm, Ph.D. (Sociology, University of Heidelberg, 1922) was a German-American social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was a German Jew who fled the Nazi regime and settled in the United States. He was one of the founders of The William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis and Psychology in New York City and was associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory.

Fromm explored the interaction between psychology and society, and held various professorships in psychology in the U.S. and Mexico in the mid-20th century.

Fromm's theory is a rather unique blend of Freud and Marx. Freud, of course, emphasized the unconscious, biological drives, repression, and so on. In other words, Freud postulated that our characters were determined by biology. Marx, on the other hand, saw people as determined by their society, and most especially by their economic systems.

Reviews

[عماد العتيلي · Rating 4 out of 5]

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OMG! How I enjoy reading Fromm! I don’t agree with him on some issues, but still I love him!



This book is huge! It gives an interpretation of the Old Testament, and - based on a humanistic approach - it defends Man’s hope of having a better world (a paradise!).

Like all of Fromm’s books, You Shall Be as Gods plants into the reader’s soul a seed of hope and encourages positivism. On one hand, It gives you a heavenly feeling when an inspiring philosopher like Fromm talks with such positivity about the ability of Man to build a bright future and to own his freedom.

But, on the other hand, you start to question that huge amount of positivity! Maybe Fromm is over-positive? Is he delusional? Can the UTOPIA he dreams of (and encourages us to dream of) really exist?



Fromm suggests that we are on our way to becoming Gods – to be able to rule ourselves and build a paradise of our own - but is that really possible? We all love to be positive and to dream of our ability to conquer every obstacle imaginable, but … we MUST look at reality – not cover it up by being over-positive!

This book would leave you with a MASSIVE heap of hope! Also, it will leave you with a MASSIVE-R heap of doubt!
That is why this is a GREAT book!

[Erik Graff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always admired Erich Fromm who had early been one of those who introduced me to Marx and Marxism in a manner which circumvented my Cold War upbringing. You Shall Be As Gods: A Radical Reinterpretation of the Old Testament and its Tradition serves similarly as a book which offers a constructively engaging new approach to Judaism. Fromm was apparently rabbinically trained. He certainly knew his stuff. I was quite impressed, as I'd never been by Freud, by his mastery of the materials and positive appropriation of them.

[Jon Yoni Kastner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting interpretation backed up through a wealth of sources from the Bible (Tanach), its commentators, the Talmud, and beyond. Fromm grew up in the Jewish tradition, and clearly knew his stuff when it came to Torah literature. His critiques of theism are secondary to the essence of the book - namely, an interpretation of the Old Testament - and for what it aims to do, it does a thorough job.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of those "where have you been all my life?" books. Deep but readable, perceptive, challenging. Fromm wrote on a wide variety of topics, and somehow I hadn't heard much about this book until I saw it in a used bookstore for cheap.

It's marvelous. He uses a careful reading of large chunks of the Hebrew Bible (aka Old Testament) to propose less alienated and more fruitful ways for us to orient our lives. All of this is supported by wonderful commentary and anecdotes primarily from Talmudic scholarship, along with some key references to Christian theology. For me, reading it as a Christian, it made new and fresh many aspects of the Hebrew Bible that had become inert from repetition. He provides helpful fresh interpretations of the Hebrew at times that throw wide the curtains on rooms that had been dark.

Fromm finishes the book with a fascinating taxonomy of the psalms and a powerful new angle on Jesus' last words (from Mark) on the cross: "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" The despair in those words has presented a tough theological puzzle down through the centuries. (If he is God, how can he feel such despair? If he is man, then what is his uniqueness? Etc.) Fromm does not insist on his interpretation, but he notes an important fact about how the rabbinical literature of the time functioned: when one wished to quote a text as a rabbi, one did so by stating the first line of the scripture in question. (Obviously there weren't chapter/verse numbers written in back then.) So, in his reading, Jesus was not succumbing to despair but was rather quoting, in full, a psalm which begins with those despairing words and works through to faith and hope for the future by the end. (Fromm classifies this sort of psalm as "dynamic", for moving from one stance/mood to another.)

The book is filled with powerful, thought-provoking, fresh views like this one. It also powerfully expresses the dangers of what Fromm calls "idolatry" in all its forms, whether it be idolatry of a certain alienated idea of God, or of money, or technology, or economic system, or utopian visions. (If you're into the Frankfurt School, you'll see here some resonance/influence with Adorno's emphasis on the proscription on idolatry.) Powerful challenging stuff, even all these years later.

Highly recommended.

[Ismayil Aliyev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heavy read for a new starter if coming from a non religious background, but enjoyed overall coverage of the concepts and conclusions in the epilogue

[Richard Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like all great spiritual works, the Torah (or the Old Testament as Fromm calls it here) lends itself to many interpretations. For the purposes of the spiritual process of any given person, I'm prepared to acknowledge that any one interpretation is as valid as any other. I may find some of them to be unsupported in the text or ahistorical or just plain wrong or even repellant, but if it rings true to you and gives you spiritual meaning, who am I to say that you are wrong? It's the nature of the spiritual experience to be non-rational, so if I think that your interpretation is not the best, I could try to lead by example to show you a different path or I could pose questions to you that may open up new ways of thinking for you or I could show you spiritual practices that might be interesting to you and lead you in other directions if you choose to follow them, but if I try to use reason to prove that you are wrong, I am doomed to fail.

My difficulty with this book was that it felt like Fromm was trying to reason with me to get me to agree with his point of view, so in that sense, he was misguided. But the good news is that I didn't really need to be persuaded, because a lot of his perspective is very comfortable to me. He has a universalist point of view, a big tent with room for every kind of spiritual seeker, even ones who do not believe in God. I'm good with that. And he interprets the commands of Judaism as being focused more than anything on prohibiting the worship of idols, not just statues of Baal or Zeus or golden calves but also money, fame, ambition, etc. I like that. I always wondered why a supreme being would care about humans praising him, but I can understand why he might want us not to worship idols that may lead us astray from a true spiritual path. Fromm also posits that the commandments of Judaism are aimed at making us act more godlike, and he interprets the coming of the messiah as a manifestation of a higher more godlike spiritual state in all of us. Again I like that. But I think that a lot of what Fromm advocates is hard to pull out of the Torah and is probably not what the authors of the book had in mind.

Still, going back to my original statement, what the heck? Who cares if it is really supported or not? It works for him, and a lot of it works for me too. If you want to hop on the bus with Erich and me, then great. If you have other ideas, that's fine too.

[Hunter Dickerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked some parts a lot more than others. I loved this part:

"The highest value is the optimal development of one's own powers of reason, love, compassion, and courage. All worldly achievements are subordinated to these highest spiritual values... For the average person, especially in a materialistic culture, life is a means toward ends other than the person himself. These ends are: pleasure, money, power, production and distribution of commodities, and so on. If man is not used by others for their ends, he uses himself for his own; in both cases he becomes a means. For the religious person, man alone is an end and never a means. His whole attitude toward life is one in which each event is responded to from the standpoint of whether or not it helps to transform him in the direction of becoming more human. Whether it is art or science, joy or sorrow, work or play, whatever happens is a stimulus to him becoming stronger and more sensitive. In this sense, man is not a subject opposing the world in order to transform it; he is in the world, making his presence in the world the occasion for constant self-transformation and transcendence. [Spiritual/Religious transcendence is] a letting go of one's ego, one's greed, and with it, of one's fears; a giving up of the wish to hold onto the ego as if it were an indestructible, seperate entity; a making oneself empty in order to be able to fill oneself with the world, to respond to it, to become one with it, to love it... Whether we conceive of this transcendence as one towards God is a matter of conceptualization, not experience."

[Samira · Rating 5 out of 5]

الكتاب فخيم جدا بصراحه!! مكنتش اتخيل ان التناغم والالتحام بين علم النفس والكتاب المقدس والحياه الروحيه، هيكون عن طريق حد ملحد اساسا :'D ..
الكتاب بيكلم في الاول عن مفهوم الله وتطوره في خلال العهد القديم والتقليد اليهودى، وبعد كده بيكلم عن طبيعة الانسان واصله وازاى انه كائن بيتطور ومنفتح وبيسير في رحلة تحريره من العشيره والعيله والام والطبيعه وبيستقل عنهم، وبل بيستقل عن الله نفسه فيصبح قادرا على السير معه، على قدم المساواه! .. بعد كده بيكلم عن اله التاريخ وان الله اله تحرير، وحكى قصة خروج الشعب من ارض مصر بزوايا مختلفه ابهرتنى!! وبعد كده اكلم عن الطريق، واللى اضافوا ليه الحاخامات طول التاريخ، وشرح عقيدة السبت اللى عمرها ما ريحتنى في العهد القديم بصراحه، بس ابعرتنى وعجبتنى، وبعد كده شرح المزامير وتفسيرها وتصنيفها، وفيه في الاخر ملحق عن مزمور 22، المزمور المسيانى وكان master piece خلتنى فاتحه بقي للاخر.
الكتاب عظيم جدا، والرؤيه اليهوديه للعهد القديم والتقليد اليهودى فخيمه جدا، واكتشفت ازاى ان اللى كانوا عايشين وقت المسيح يعتبروا اغراب عن التقليد، وكانوا مقضينها تقاليد بشريه كده.
الكتاب بس عيبه ان ترجمته سخيفه جدا يعنى.
محير في حتت، وفلسفي جدا في حتت تانيه.
خبره عظيمه.

[Michael David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much like Kant's understanding of God in the Critique of Pure Reason, God was constructed in the Jewish tradition, according to Fromm, as the telos of human morality: God is the full development of love and reason. (p. 21) The Jewish teachings, through their axiom of defining God through what he is not, is also similar to Kant's conception of the unconditioned condition.

Fromm also affirms in later chapters that the sole power of man, not only as someone who could be like God, is that he "is free to choose his way and yet must accept the consequence of his choice." (p. 116) Even in the Old Testament, God had never interfered with human choices: rather, he only presents the consequences of human actions. Maimonides noted: "Every human being has merits and iniquities. One whose merits exceed his iniquities is righteous." Man is radically independent, even from God. In this he holds much power, but also will face much consequences.

[AttackGirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just remember time and place, as I state with all abrahamic text I recommend you read read and read it some more. Watch the current state of Palestine and read “The Protocols of the learned Elders of Zion”. You can get the free full known version on Archive.org. Then enjoy all the books, the perceptions of reality.

Reality is the variation of perception. Clarke 1965

[Leonardo Muñoz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es el primer libro de Teología y Filosofía que leo seriamente, y me ha parecido bastante clarificador en cuanto a la postura de Fromm y cómo va explicando cada término y versículo que utiliza sin deshacerse en palabras demasiado rebuscadas: por razón dada da su respectivo respaldo.
Más en lo personal, me ayudo a entender a los textos deísticos de la Biblia y del Talmud de la manera no teísta que el autor propone y la cual comparto, convirtiéndolos en una solución "sin Dios" para los tiempos que corren hoy día, y en especial por el coronavirus, que nos ha permitido ver como las sociedades capitalistas deshacen al querer ser del hombre y lo obligan a mantenerse en una posición donde el dinero prevale por su propia dicha. Por ello, me vale considerar a dichos textos como fuentes de sabiduría y rehusar la concepción como texto para ignorantes que he solido mantener en mi mente hasta ahora sin perder el centro en el hombre y adhiriendo a ella el valor de vivir en sociedad y en la naturaleza.
Es un libro que sin duda me ha hecho pensar bastante y cuyo argumento en su totalidad me haya valido bastante como enseñanza de vida.

[Noor Alam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book in so far as it made me very intrigued about the Bible and its interpretations. Many of the interpretations made by Fromm are ones that I was less familiar with. He treats the Old testament and the new testament as an archaeological study, which provide a great deal of insight into the collective values of the people at the time and, if read in that context, can provide some understanding of the origins of our moral system.

For example, one story that particularly sticks out is the fall of adam and eve. For many, this is about disobedience. But for Fromm, this story illustrates the earlier, selfish God who coveted his knowledge and did not want man to become like him, though he could.

[Evan Micheals · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the latest part of my Erich Fromm project and I read this mostly whilst I was reading from Deuteronomy to 2 Samuel in the Old Testament. Written in 1966 Fromm discusses the problem of Idolatry within religious practice, and how God repeatedly warns against this. He identifies how to many God becomes an Idol, because people are so focused on proving or disproving whether God exists. They forget to contemplate the values that God symbolises. To Fromm this was around kindness, compassion, wisdom etc. Fromm interpretation leads him to quasi socialist values, and an endorsement of socialism (not Stalinism).

I found my recent reading of the Bible drew me further away from ‘Faith’. I would not want to follow a God that demanded genocide, like I can make ‘Faith’ an intellectual decision. My thought was that we find what we want when reading a text. Fromm focused on passages I completely missed (that supported his a proiri perspective). I am troubled that I picked up on the episodes of genocide so strongly. It was a reminded that two people can read the same text and find different meanings within in. I take his point about Idolatry and its dangers. I have reinforced that my perspective is not the only, and is unlikely to be the correct one.

[Jorge Obed Guevara Tirado · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fromm es uno de los autores que más he leído, también, uno de mis favoritos. Para mí mala fortuna en "Y sereis como Dioses" no encontré alguna gran revelación como en otras de sus obras. El libro se concentra principalmente en analizar los principales mitos hebreos desde una perspectiva ética y psicológica. Por lo tanto a pesar de ser textos antiguos la narrativa se siente muy vigente. En mi opinión el mejor acierto del ensayo es brindar una interpretación no teológica de lo hechos contados en el antiguo testamento. Por otra parte el sentido histórico del ensayo genera una relación con el hombre moderno debido al sentido de pertenencia cultural, a final de cuentas el mundo occidental a mi ver es mitad griego y mitad judío. Por último y no menos importante (al menos no por mucho), la explicación que da sobre la religión judía, comparándola más como un sistema ético que como un sistema jerárquico de idolatría me parece excelente. Me enseñó a tener una noción más exacta sobre lo que es la cosmovisión judía más allá del clásico estereotipo de avaros señores banqueros.

[Johnsonk5 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm pretty skeptical of psychoanalysts and critical theorists like Erich Fromm. But this analysis of the Old Testament was thorough and surprisingly in depth. Fromm's perspective is unique, though at times unsurprising (is it all that surprising that Fromm analyzed the Old Testament and found it full of 20th century humanist insights??), and he bases his views on a wealth of citations from Talmudic and Hassidic literature. I don't know enough to know whether or not he misrepresents them, but at the very least, he refers to the literature often. As usual, there were things I agreed with and things I disagreed with, and there were parts I enjoyed more than others (the chapter on the Psalms was a disappointing mish mash of pseudo-psychology and uninteresting literary analysis). In any case, the book got me interested in knowing more about Jewish theology.

[Seekers of Unity · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good example of a case where an author should stay in their field of expertise. He tries his hand in writing on religion and the bible and fails trying to promote his 2D Judaism cum humanism, although I did kinda like his reading of the expulsion from the Garden. A lot of the book reads like a weird commercial where he’s trying to sell Jewish values and Talmudic wisdom. Book lacks a cohesive structure as a result.

If you like books like this you'll love my project:
http://youtube.com/c/seekersofunity?s...
`

[Zosia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still don’t believe in God but I really liked this book. And I’m always here for the Old Testament, that grumpy chestnut. Fromm interprets scripture in a way that really appeals to me - like, humans are meant to turn into God, not just be made in his image. God is jealous at first because humans are his competition! (This is just one concept that spoke to me.) I loved the bits on the true purpose of the Sabbath - to have one day where time isn’t your master, where you keep nature undisturbed and live out of phase. How cool and lovely. This makes me want to keep digging, for whatever I’m looking for in these things.

[zefis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes Scattered

Fromm's book, were it a survey of the Old Testament would be a 5 star rating for being thorough and for the vast number of sources he quotes from Talmudic, Mishnah, and later sources.

From the standpoint of Fromm arguing his thesis I give the book 3 stars. He starts strong, but beginning in the third chapter spends a lot of time quoting sources and not enough time tying his thoughts and sources to his thesis.

[Martin Hassman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vyvrcholení Frommových úvah k náboženství. Ty se objevují snad ve všech jeho dalších knihách, kde doplňují základní psychologické myšlenky. V téhle knize je tomu právě naopak. Náboženské myšlenky jsou zde doplňovány (a vysvětlovány) těmi psychologickými. Četl jsem od Fromma už asi 8 knih a tohle je jejich skvělé doplnění.

[Congcong Hu · Rating 4 out of 5]

It depicted Judaism in a better light. I liked the humanist interpretation of religious texts.

Fromm’s works have always been promoting freedom and independence. This book is approaching the same message with the topic of religion. The warning against idolatry is inspiring. “But both will know they are united in their common goal, which can be discovered more from their actions than from their concepts. Above all, they will be united by their common fight against idolatry.”

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too boring, too slow, all talking, doesn't really explain anything. It seems like the author trying to convert you to some kind of Judaism. It's very clear that he is not an expert on some topics treated in this book but he doesn't doubt on giving his opinions.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Echt de moeite om Erich Fromm terug van onder het stof te halen.
En voor wie katholiek is opgevoed (of andere religie) en stilaan ontgoocheld raakte, een heldere bron om spiritualiteit weer een plaats te geven als een weg naar vrijheid en verbinding.

[Sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Inače mi je drag, ili mi je bio drag Fromm, ali jako sam se naživcirala.
Imam osjećaj kao da uvijek čitam jednu te istu njegovu knjigu, a pojednostavljenja i naguravanje tumačenja biblijskih tekstova u njegove teze me izluđuje.

[Paulina Pérez H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me gustó muchísimo este libro, fue muy interesante ver la perspectiva de un psicoanalista (que también es judío mesiánico) del antiguo testamento, sobre todo la parte donde se estudió las emociones de los salmos, nunca había pensando en eso y fue muy ilustrativo

[Reminiscence · Rating 4 out of 5]

In itself relevant unto some because few believe.

[Jelena Kovacevic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Erich Fromm bester Mann❤️

[Mark Broadhead · Rating 4 out of 5]

Particularly enlightening in the first half where he analyses the unnameable of God as a refusal of idols.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interpretation of the bible that made me see it differently but not enough to go through it again.

[Jonathan GL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un análisis peculiar, entre la ciencia, los valores y lo humano, una filosofía más que una religión, es lo que rescato y que me llevo para mi vida.

[Adam Chandler · Rating 1 out of 5]

A forgettable liberal interpretation of the Bible where man is made the centre of worship instead of God Himself.