The Good and the Good Book: Revelation as a Guide to Life

by Samuel Fleischacker

'It is written ...,' says the believer in a sacred text, and proceeds to justify all manner of terrifying things. Or so runs a popular caricature of religious faith today. Religions that center around a revelation—around a 'good book,' like the Torah or Gospels or Quran, which is seen as God's word—are widely regarded as irrational and as based on outdated science and conducive to illiberal, inhumane moral attitudes. The Good and the Good Bookdefends revealed religion and shows how it can be reconciled with science and liberal morality. Samuel Fleischacker invites us to see revealed texts as aiming to teach neither scientific nor moral doctrines but a vision of what life is about overall. Purely naturalistic ways of thinking, he argues, cannot makemuch sense of our overall or ultimate good; revealed texts, by contrast, do precisely that. But these texts also need to be interpreted so as to accord with our independent understanding of morality. A delicate balance is required for this process of interpretation—between respecting the uncanny obscurity of our sacred texts and rendering them morally familiar. The book concludes with an account of how believers in one religion can respect believers in other religions, and secularpeople.

172 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 23, 2015

About the author

Samuel Fleischacker is a Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He studied at Yale University, receiving his Ph.D. in 1989. He works in moral and political philosophy, the history of philosophy, aesthetics and the philosophy of religion. Among the issues that have particularly interested him are the moral status of culture, the nature and history of liberalism, and the relationship between moral and other values (aesthetic values, religious values, political values). His work has been supported by the Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation.

Reviews

[Aryeh Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic Read

For those questioning the advantages of accepting a revealed religion, or even for those who feel totally comfortable with where they are religiously, this book is a must read. It's intellectually honest, refreshingly insightful, and clearly written. Using primarily his own thoughts, Fleischacker cleverly presents his rationale behind his choice to accept Jewish doctrine, and masterfully responds to the critiques of revealed religions.
In doing so, Fleischacker has crafted a masterpiece, allowing the reader to re-examine the way religious people think about, justify, and submit to a seemingly archaic moral code. He argues religious people naturally bring their own moral intuitions to the table when accepting a form of ethics beyond themselves, which allows for a more holistic view on what it means to live a meaningful life. All in all, a fascinating and fantastic read.

[The Jewish Book Council]

Review by Avraham Bronstein for the Jewish Book Council.