Genesis: A Living Conversation (Pbs Series)
by Bill Moyers
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Book Summary Information
Author: Bill MoyersEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1997-09-15
ISBN: 0385490437
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Anchor
Book Reviews of Genesis: A Living Conversation (Pbs Series)
Book Review: Unfortunate interpretations
Summary: 3 Stars
Another reviewer reports correctly that "the people in Genesis are all exposed as being very human, with fractured families." So far, so good. That is true, and it is precisely the point of all the stories in the Torah: people are human, and God has given them free will. They often make mistakes, from which mankind is supposed to learn.
But the discussions of Genesis in Moyers' book, are otherwise hopelessly inconsistent with Jewish thinking. And since Genesis is, after all, the first book in the Jewish Torah, or Five Books of Moses, it's somewhat incomprehensible that Bill Moyers would consult just one Jewish authority, Rabbi Burton Visotzky. Then again, I once heard Moyers dismiss Judaism as the product of an "angry God," which was repaired by the coming of Christ. So it's not surprising that Moyers' presents by and large extremely negative views of the Genesis stories, making all those people sound devilish.
Consider for example Moyers' take on the story of Abraham and Isaac.
According to him, God is angry and unforgiving. Moyers furthermore condemns Abraham as a mere trickster hiding "behind his wife's skirts" and resorting to cunning.
There are, however, many other rabbinical interpretations of Abraham and Isaac story in Genesis, Chapter 22. One of the best, to my mind, is offered by W. Gunther Plaut in his 1981 English-opening edition of The Torah: A Modern Commentary and The Torah: Genesis.
Plaut correctly notes that the first command to Abraham "issued by Elohim---the generic term for God or gods---and the command is one that other elohim could and did make" during Abraham's era.
However, when Abraham is about to perform the sacrifice, "it is Abraham's God, Adonai, who stays his hand. In other words, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob "not only rejects the sacrifice of a son by a father, but rejects, as well, its use as a theological theme. This is in stark contrast to Eastern religions...in which a father's sacrificial gift of his son plays an important role."
Thus, Plaut concludes that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob rejected the contemporary norms of Biblical times, together with any and all acts of child sacrifice.
Plaut's interpretation makes eminent sense, whereas Moyers attempts to discredit the lessons embedded in Genesis, particularly that of Abraham and Isaac.
It's a real shame that Rabbi Visotzky let him get away with it.
The book has nice art work, though.
Summary of Genesis: A Living Conversation (Pbs Series)
Now in paperback, the bestselling companion volume to the groundbreaking ten-part PBS series. In Genesis, acclaimed TV journalist Bill Moyers brings together some of the world's liveliest minds for spirited discussions of the ageless wisdom from the Bible's epic first book. 158 photos, 48 in full color.In all honesty, when I first tuned into Genesis the PBS series, I wasn't really in the mood to hear a cabal of hyper-intellectual critics enlighten me with their interpretations of an already widely familiar religious text. Within seconds of watching, however, I was completely engrossed in a conversation unlike any I'd experienced before--lively, intelligent, generous, illuminating, exciting. If you didn't catch the series, or even if you did and you still want more, pick up this book. It expands in places where the program had to be cut and is just as riveting. The commentary and the "already familiar text" prove as multidimensional and visceral as life itself.
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