Authors: Ken Spiro
ISBN-13: 9780757300561, ISBN-10: 0757300561
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Health Communications, Incorporated
Date Published: September 2002
Edition: (Non-applicable)
Ken Spiro is a rabbi and dynamic lecturer. He holds a Master of Arts degree in history and a bachelor of arts degree in Russian language and literature. He developed the acclaimed seminar "WorldPerfect: The Jewish Impact on Civilization," which brings Jewish history alive for thousands of people each year.
In pursuit of an answer to the question of what would constitute a perfect world, author Ken Spiro questioned more than 1,500 people of various backgrounds and religions. His findings revealed six core elements: Respect for human life; peace and harmony; justice and equality; education; family; and social responsibility. He then set off on a journey to find out why these were such common goals across cultural, economic, social and racial lines, and in the process, traced the history of the development of world religions, values and ethics.
As a rabbi, he paid particular attention to how Judaism impacted, and was influenced by, the course of these developments. The result is a highly readable and well-documented book about the origins of values and virtues in Western civilization as influenced by the Greeks, Romans, Christians, Muslims and, most significantly, the Jews.
The history of religion, presented in Spiro’s highly readable style, is a fascinating and timely subject, especially in today’s volatile religious climate. Spiro divides his book into five engaging parts:
Readers of all faiths will find that the elements of a perfect world can only be achieved by a common understanding of our mutual backgrounds and that our diverse religions are all merely branches growing from one single tree.
Acknowledgments | xi | |
Introduction | xiii | |
Part I | Where the Quality of Mercy Was Not Strained: The World of Greece and Rome | 1 |
1. | Horror Show | 5 |
2. | War Makes the World Go 'Round | 17 |
3. | Even-Handed Injustice | 25 |
4. | Ignorance As Bliss | 37 |
5. | Sex and Sensibility | 43 |
6. | Far from the Madding Crowd | 55 |
7. | No Better, No Worse | 59 |
8. | Conclusions: Part I | 67 |
Part II | Against the Grain: The Jewish View | 69 |
9. | He Who Saves One Life Saves the World | 75 |
10. | When the Lion Lies Down with the Lamb | 79 |
11. | Justice, Justice You Shall Pursue | 85 |
12. | Reading, Writing and Torah | 91 |
13. | God, Mom and Apple Pie | 97 |
14. | Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses | 103 |
15. | Conclusions: Part II | 109 |
Part III | A Father to Many Nations: Abraham and the Implications of Monotheism | 113 |
16. | Keeping Up with the Morality of the Joneses | 117 |
17. | A Strange Man with a Strange Idea | 123 |
18. | One for All and All for One | 129 |
19. | Beauty and the Beast of Greece | 147 |
20. | When in Rome Do As the Greeks Do | 157 |
21. | Conclusions: Part III | 173 |
Part IV | With Sword and Fire: The Rise of Christianity and Islam | 179 |
22. | The Religion Revolution | 183 |
23. | The Forgotten Children of Abraham | 191 |
24. | Gloomy Ages | 203 |
25. | A Spark in the Dark | 217 |
26. | Conclusions: Part IV | 227 |
Part V | The New Promised Land: The Impact of Judaism on Modern Democracies | 229 |
27. | The Puritans Are Coming | 233 |
28. | America the Beautiful | 245 |
29. | Fanning the Flames of Freedom | 257 |
30. | The Best of the Rest | 265 |
31. | Conclusions: Part V | 271 |
Notes | 279 | |
Bibliography | 313 | |
Index | 325 |