Unlike the many devout readers who approach the Bible to find salvation, unlike even the secular scholars who take up the Bible to advance linguistic and historical understanding, Leon R. Kass comes to Genesis in pursuit of philosophical wisdom. And he finds it.
As a distinguished researcher in molecular biology and bioethics, Kass well understands how modern science has rendered untenable many traditional readings of the holy book. But he also recognizes how scientific expertise has created dilemmas demanding anew the kind of moral insights that generations have gleaned from Scripture. And though he demurs as to its divine inspiration, Kass finds in Genesis a richly rewarding narrative challenging readers to explore the promise and peril of human life.
Unfolding a unified series of pedagogical investigations (developed over two decades of teaching the text at the University of Chicago), Kass guides readers in profound reflections on natural and human origins: How did Eden's forbidden fruit deliver Adam and Eve to death yet simultaneously endow them with spiritual freedom? How did the failure of the Tower of Babel expose the limits of civilization--including our own?
Kass must ask different questions once Abraham appears (in Genesis 12), for his covenantal relationship with deity transcends philosophic reasoning. Yet in limning the rise of the Israelite nation, Kass probes the meaning--and contemporary significance--of a communal commitment to reverence and justice.
Readers unattached to church or synagogue may be surprised at how much the Bible still has to teach them.
Leon R. Kass is the Hertog Fellow at AEI.
Table of Contents
Preface: The Professor and the Fossil Introduction: The Beginning of Wisdom
Part I: Dangerous Beginnings: The Uninstructed Ways: Genesis
Awesome Beginnings: Man, Heaven, and the Created Order
The Follies of Freedom and Reason: The Story of the Garden of Eden (I)
The Vexed Question of Man and Woman: The Story of the Garden of Eden (II)
Fratricide and Founding: The Twisted Roots of Civilization
Death, Beautiful Women, and the Heroic Temptation: The Return of Chaos and the Flood
Elementary Justice: Man, Animals, and the Coming of Law and Covenant
Paternity and Piety: Noah and His Sons
Babel: The Failures of Civilization
Part II: Educating the Fathers: Genesis
Abraham (Genesis 12-25)
Educating the Fathers: Father Abraham
Educating Father Abraham: The Meaning of Marriage
Educating Father Abraham: The Meaning of Patriarchy
Isaac (Genesis 25-28)
Inheriting the Way: From Father to Son
The Education of Isaac: From Son to Patriarch
Jacob (Genesis 28-35)
The Adventures of Jacob: The Taming of the Shrewd
Brotherhood and Piety: Facing Esau, Seeing God
Politics and Piety: Jacob Becomes Israel
The Generations of Jacob: Joseph, Judah, and Their Brothers (Genesis 36-50)
The Generations of Jacob: The Question of Leadership
Joseph the Egyptian
Joseph and His Brothers: Estrangement and Recognition
Israel in Egypt: The Way Not Taken
Losing Joseph, Saving Israel: Jacob Preserves the Way
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