Judaism Without God? Judaism as Culture and Bible as Literature

by Yaakov Malkin

This volume explores key concepts in the discourse of Judaism as culture. It also includes a history of pluralism in Jewish culture and models for Humanistic Jewish education. Malkin presents Judaism as the culture of the Jewish people, not a religion, and looks at the Bible as literature, with God as a literary figure created by its authors. By learning to read the Bible as literature instead of fact, you will see that it represents the cultural and spiritual life of the eras in which it was created, and you can understand the human condition of its literary heroes. As literature, the Bible influenced the annals of humanity’s spiritual life in its presentation of God as an abstract concept; in the socialist laws of the Sabbath; and in the choice of justice and virtue over God’s commandments.