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    The Good Book: A Humanist Bible
    The Good Book: A Humanist Bible
    The Good Book: A Humanist Bible
    Ebook1,009 pages21 hours

    The Good Book: A Humanist Bible

    By A. C. Grayling

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Few, if any, thinkers and writers today would have the imagination, the
    breadth of knowledge, the literary skill, and-yes-the audacity to
    conceive of a powerful, secular alternative to the Bible. But that is
    exactly what A.C. Grayling has done by creating a non-religious Bible,
    drawn from the wealth of secular literature and philosophy in both
    Western and Eastern traditions, using the same techniques of editing,
    redaction, and adaptation that produced the holy books of the
    Judaeo-Christian and Islamic religions. The Good Book consciously
    takes its design and presentation from the Bible, in its beauty of
    language and arrangement into short chapters and verses for ease of
    reading and quotability, offering to the non-religious seeker all the
    wisdom, insight, solace, inspiration, and perspective of secular
    humanist traditions that are older, far richer and more various than
    Christianity. Organized in 12 main sections----Genesis, Histories,
    Widsom, The Sages, Parables, Consolations, Lamentations, Proverbs,
    Songs, Epistles, Acts, and the Good----The Good Book opens with
    meditations on the origin and progress of the world and human life in
    it, then devotes attention to the question of how life should be lived,
    how we relate to one another, and how vicissitudes are to be faced and
    joys appreciated. Incorporating the writing of Herodotus and Lucretius,
    Confucius and Mencius, Seneca and Cicero, Montaigne, Bacon, and so many
    others, The Good Book will fulfill its audacious purpose in every way.

    Editor's Note

    A life well-lived…

    A bible for the secular, this humanist guide to living a good life draws on the inspired writings of humanity’s greatest thinkers to encourage readers of all stripes to celebrate the joys of life, and to overcome its trials.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury USA
    Release dateApr 5, 2011
    ISBN9780802778383
    Author

    A. C. Grayling

    A. C. Grayling is the Founder and Principal of the New College of the Humanities at Northeastern University, London, and its Professor of Philosophy. Among his many books are The God Argument, Democracy and Its Crisis, The History of Philosophy, The Good State and The Frontiers of Knowledge. He has been a regular contributor to The Times, Guardian, Financial Times, Independent on Sunday, Economist, New Statesman, Prospect and New European. He appears frequently on radio and TV, including Newsnight and CNN News. He lives in London.

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    • 3/5
      An interesting experiment, though I'm not sure this does entirely what Grayling wanted to do. Explicitly modeling the design on the typical Biblical style proves more distracting than useful, and the lack of footnotes, while understandable, is unfortunate. Some lovely passages, but I don't think the potential for this very neat idea is met.

    Book preview

    The Good Book - A. C. Grayling

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