Customer Reviews

Bondage of the Mind: How Old Testament Fundamentalism Shackles the Mind and Enslaves the Spirit

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I had heard of this book, but didn't think I cared about "Old Testament Fundamentalism," so I had ignored it. But the review in the latest Skeptic magazine praised it so highly I thought I should give it a try. What a remarkable book. It's no exaggeration to call it a page-turner, and Gold manages to pack a lot of information into a tight space not by writing dense prose, as academics often do, but by selecting examples and quotations that are so on-target that no more need be said. And as far as not caring about "Old Testament" fundamentalism (I came out of a Christian fundamentalist background), it turns out that all fundamentalisms are basically the same thing. Who knew? What's more, a very efficient way of countering Christian extremism turns out to be countering Old Testament extremism, because much of what is fanatical and wicked in Christianity has roots in the Torah as much as if not more than in the gospels, letters of Paul, and Revelation. I cannot recommend this book too highly, even to people with no real interest in the topic, because it is an exemplar of how to present a persuasive case that is long on reason and short on mere rhetoric. I have seen no finer recent example of a book that manages to be genuinely cogent while avoiding polemics.

I was shocked to read a couple of the 1-star reviews...that is, until I read the one that says, in essence, that it doesn't matter that archeology and reason point in another direction, what really matters is "faith." I can't help wondering how faith is possible given that the thing being believed is not merely unknown, or mysterious, or unknowable, but demonstrably wrong. I mean, it's one thing to believe your mate is faithful because you've never seen him or her cheating, but it's quite another to maintain that faith when you walk in on a tryst. This book demonstrates as clearly as anything could that fundamentalists are like the spouse who stays married after being asked by the cheater, "Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?"

Bondage of the Mind is an important, brilliant book that is long overdue. There are lots of books promoting atheism, and even more (by several orders of magnitude) promoting religious fundamentalism. This book promotes neither. Instead, it asks readers to open their eyes - and their minds - to consider a compelling argument that the dogma of fundamentalism in general and of Orthodox Judaism in particular is false.

The author has done extensive research and thoroughly documents all the evidence he presents. The book is a first-rate piece of scholarship, but the author writes in a colloquial, often humorous style that make it a pleasure to read. He builds a powerful case that it makes no sense for anyone to give up much of his or her freedom for, as he puts it, the straightjacket of a flawed fundamentalist belief system.
Some of the reviews posted here are just flat out wrong. One claims that "Gold had pitted himself against an accomplished logician (Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb) and is found desperately wanting" and to prove this he recommends "a parallel reading of his and Gottlieb's texts based on logic alone." Well I did that, and it is Rabbi Gottlieb who comes up holding the short end of the stick - and I say that as the holder of a Masters degree in Philosophy from Stanford University, where the Philosophy Department is particularly strong in mathematical logic and the philosophy of science. (If you read Bondage of the Mind, you'll also see that Gold is not "frothing at the mouth," as Mr. Greenblatt suggests. An unfair ad hominem attack if I ever saw one.)

I read Rabbi Gottlieb's tract, "Living Up...to the Truth", that Gold cites in his book. It is a finely honed piece of rhetoric that presents arguments in such a way that they seem convincing to those who are already convinced, those who want to be convinced, or those who are not skilled in the analysis of extended argumentation. But the arguments themselves are completely without merit, repeatedly abuse legitimate principles of reasoning, and are flawed to the point of irresponsibility. For example, in Part III of his tract his absurd arguments would surely earn him a failing grade in rational decision theory. Similar to his distortion of the scientific method (mentioned in Gold's book), in which he pretends to be promoting the scientific method but in fact is propounding a fallacious line of reasoning that has nothing at all to do with the scientific method, here Gottlieb pretends to endorse principles of rational decision theory while in fact he is promoting a highly irrational, potentially dangerous principle of behavior.

A second reviewer alleges that Gold doesn't understand Judaism because, he claims, Orthodox Judaism is not based on a literal reading of the Torah. All anyone has to do is read Gottlieb's tract to determine, over and over again, that this statement is simply not true.

Bondage of the Mind probably won't change what card-carrying fundamentalists believe. (But it could, and there's no shame in hoping that it does.) But I think it is required reading by all liberal Jews and Christians. It gives them powerful ammunition to answer the Orthodox Jews and Christian evangelicals when they claim, as Gold puts it so accurately, that they and they alone know The Truth and that it comes from God.

Reading through these reviews, I am flabbergasted as to the vitriol thrown against R.D. Gold's fabulous book. With such stellar authors out there nowadays about the anti-religion venue (Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris, etc.) Gold brings something new to the table, and he does it in a very unpretentious way. He doesn't act like you're a complete idiot if you choose to believe; he doesn't talk down to you, which is something these atheist authors do all too often. Also, Gold isn't TRYING to get you to change religions or be an atheist. He's not poking fun at faith, in fact quite the contrary. He's saying that if you ascribe to the beliefs of fundamentalism/Orthodox Judaism, than you should do so on faith because the so-called facts that fundamentalists adhere to are full of holes.

And to say that Mr. Gold doesn't understand the concept of faith, quite the contrary. Consider a line from pg. 116, "The Jews may indeed be God's chosen people, but this conclusion does not follow logically from the historical evidence. If you believe that, you are taking it purely on faith." In other words, Gold is ENCOURAGING faith, over the unwavering belief in "facts" that simply aren't true. He's not even really writing in an overly persuasive manner; he's simply laying the facts at your feet, so if you do choose to believe, at least you'll be aware of the truth. It seems to me that the people who are the most offended by this book are those who are biased, and take offense at Gold's stark (but honest) portrayal of their religion. That's an intellectual error on their part. I can understand how a person who has lived according to the supposed factual creeds described in this book could be made to feel stupid after reading it, but I don't think you should write a review unless you can be completely objective.

And this book is not like the books out now by Dawkins and Hitchens, as some make it out to be. This is not a treatise for atheism, far from it. It is exactly what its cover claims it is - the explanation of "How Old Testament Fundamentalism Shackles the Mind and Enslaves the Spirit." I'd recommend it to anyone who believes they can read objectively.

The author quotes the leading arguments for literal interpretation of the Torah and then logically deconstructs them, using archeology and history as data points. His ongoing argument that many of the fundamentalist stands are immoral as well as illogical leads to the conclusion that they enslave the mind and damage the soul. A very important read, highly recommended.

Gold takes the reasonably recent research results that shows the Old Testament/Torah to be tales of many authors rather than the word of God and uses it to attack Orthodox Judaism and other forms of fundamentalist religion. Although not a scholarly book he does backup his work with decent references (29 pages of notes). It also has a 12 page index. It is reasonably easy and enjoyable to read.

I enjoyed the last half of the book more than the first. In the end of the book he makes some good points about: God's Truth, Religious Fundamentalists, Religion and Science, and Rituals

Mr. Gold is an American secular Jew, residing in the Bay Area, who is seeking to sound the alarm against the new aggressiveness (as he perceives it) of apologists for Jewish Orthodoxy. These scholars insist that the Torah, with all of its attendant superstition, intolerance, and outright absurdity, is uniformly the word of God. As such nothing can be subtracted from it. In Gold's view, this doctrine makes these advocates fundamentalists, just as much as the Christian evangelicals who believe in the inerrancy of Scripture.

Some eyebrows will be raised at Gold's retention of the term "Old Testament," which most biblical scholars have discarded as imposing a Christian perspective on the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh. Perhaps the author is making a valid point, though, because the Jewish Orthodox writers regard their scriptures with the same unvarying reverence as evangelical Christians do. For the Orthodox it is their Old Testament. (Arguably the Oral Torah, regarded by some as of equal authority with the Written Torah, is the Jewish New Testament.)

Gold is a concerned layman, not a professional biblical scholar. He cites only a few books. Yet he excels in two areas. First, his literary style is outstandingly clear and engaging. The book can be read--with much profit, I might add--in a sitting.

Secondly, and most crucially, he subjects the claims of the Orthodox writers to withering, unremitting scrutiny. His conclusions are stark. "[T[he evidence weighs heavily, very heavily, against the truth of Orthodox Judaism. If we apply the same principles of rational belief that we rely on in everyday life, it is difficult--I would say impossible--to reach any conclusion other than that the dogma of Orthodox Judaism is not true. It is false. . . . Far from being divine immutable law, the doctrines of Orthodox Judaism--like fundamentalist dogma everywhere--are an anachronistic absurdity in this day and age, and they spawn a pious ignorance that subverts independent thought."

Gold also points out that archaeology has failed to confirm any of the key traditional claims of traditional biblical apologetics. Tellingly, he cites the Israeli archaeologist Ze'ev Herzog. "Following seventy years of intensive excavations in the Land of Israel ... this is what archeologists have learned. The patriarch's acts are legendary, the Israelites did not sojourn in Egypt or make an exodus, they did not wander in the desert, and they did not conquer he land in a military campaign. Perhaps even harder to swallow is the fact that the united monarchy of David and Solomon, which is described in the Bible as a regional power, was at most a small tribal kingdom." The only thing I would disagree with in this statement is the last. There is no evidence that David and Solomon ever existed.

If God was the author of the texts presenting these fictions, how could he have been so much in error? Or was he seeking simply purveying whoppers to deceive human beings?

Gold also takes on the Orthodox dogma of the unique survival of the Jewish people, one of their main arguments for the Jews being God's specifically chosen people. The argument takes this form: No people in history has suffered the way the Jews have. By any reasonable standard, the Jewish people should be extinct by now. Yet, not only have they miraculously survived the Holocaust, but, against all probability, they have returned to Israel and revived their ancient nation. So goes the litany.

And yet, as Gold points out, the survival of the Jewish people for thousands of years is scarcely the unique phenomenon the Orthodox like to claim that it is. The Basques, for example, have been around at least as long as the Jews have, if not considerably longer. In fact, the Basque presence in the Pyrenees predates recorded history. Recent genetic evidence indicates that they have survived in place for some forty thousand years, more than ten times the duration of an identifiable Jewish culture. (I am myself probably a descendent of the Basque diaspora.)

And of course there are many other instances of peoples surviving for millennia: the Parsis, the Armenians, the Latvians--to cite just three.

The Orthodox also assume that only the Torah assured the survival of the Jewish people. Yet the Basques, like many other survivor peoples, have no Torah. Rightly, Gold maintains that the Torah is secondary: it is the creation of the Jewish people, not the other way around.

Gold seeks to chart a middle course between the true believers, who swallow their Scriptures (whichever they are) whole, and such atheist absolutists as Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens, who see no benefit of any sort from religion. In order to recover the inherent spiritual values it is essential to identify and discount the vast quantities of dross--including admonitions that are sheer evil--disfiguring the celebrated texts. This dunging out is a vast undertaking, and one must look elsewhere for more detailed critical exegesis, verse by verse. Yet Gold has written an invaluable study. It is in fact his first book, and I look forward to reading more by him.

It's not everyday one finds such a unique and well written book. This wonderful book astonishingly shatters every argument put forward by top Jewish Orthodox theologians. I was literally shocked by the distinct style, eloquence and intellectual honestly put forward by R. H Gold. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in current debate that is taking between religious fundamentalism and secular humanism.

Mr. Gold's book is a very readable and rational analysis of Biblical history and narrative. While virtually all of his criticims have been demonstrated long ago, it is only now it seems, as religious fundamentalism is becoming so politically visible that most people are paying attention. It has been known for at least one and a half centuries that the Bible is based on problematic history and is a book written by fallible humans promoting one view or another. Modern scholarship and archaeology are not only confirming this but adding additional examples of historical error; not to mention the ghastly implications of some of the book's admonitions!
Gold's refusal to recognize how "liberal" religionists give cover for fundamentalist perspectives is one of the only drawbacks to an otherwise cogent book. That is, at least the fundamentalists believe the Bible is divinely inspired and brook no dissent. Liberals take what they want and leave the rest; failing to realize that the book is really a vessel in which any notion, good or bad, accurate of false, can be poured. When the Bible is viewed most people as just another example of ancient literature written by a scientifically ignorant desert people, the better for all of us.

The author successfully debunks the irrational arguments made by some about the Torah authorship, but he goes too far in his criticism of the Orthodox because it is unfair and inaccurate to clump all Orthodox Jews into one mindset. Yet this book has much to say about the importance of connecting Judaism with reality rather than science fiction. To solve the problem we need not engage in a screed against the Orthodox. Instead we merely have to explain what we think really happened (or never happened) and conclude that the morality and ethics that have emanated from the Jewish people and their texts have been invaluable to the human endeavor for the past 3,000 years. That, in itself, should be enough to reinvigorate the religion and make believers out of skeptics.

Have you come to believe that the world is in the state it is because of long, gradual, naturalistic processes? Then the claims of divine revelations throw a wrench in the works, don't they? Have you then just dismissed these claims without producing any (counter-) evidence? Then that is tantamount to a belief that you are dismissing in the first place.

The Old Testament -- which also forms the foundation for the modern Judaism, Islam and Christianity, and hence forms the foundation for most of popular modern religions today -- cannot be just dismissed lest that dismissal is deemed as illogical, irrational and without evidence as this central tenet itself.

In this book the author takes a clear-eyed look at this text, and tackles the claims based on it, which he shows are outrageous and without basis.