The Genesis of Ethics [Paperback]

Burton L. Visotzky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 23, 1997

Burton L. Visotzky, one of America's most respected scholars of religion, guides readers through a close reading of the narratives of the Book of Genesis, exposing their brutal power and revealing how their moral dilemmas apply to ethical issues we face in our lives today.

Rabbi Visotzky has led highly regarded seminars, attended by novelists, poets, editors, filmmakers and critics, Fortune 500 CEOs, bankers, and attorneys. He also was a major participant in Bill Moyers's PBS Genesis series. His reading of Genesis opens the door to moral development for all readers--Christians, Jews, Muslims, and secularists.

As Burton Visotzky says, the Book of Genesis seems to be, at least on first reading, "an ugly little soap opera about a dysfunctional family . . . a story about rape, incest, murder, deception, brute force, sex, and blood lust.  But these stories reveal much about human dilemmas and ethical problems that mirror our own lives. By delving into the lives of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Esau and holding up these characters of Scripture to the light of critical inquiry, Burton Visotzky reveals much that is fresh and useful about ethics and morality.

"He is a rabbi who is earthy, playful, and full of insight, who refuses to draw a veil over the dark side of the Bible or of our own contemporary experience. "
--Thomas Cahill, author of How the Irish Saved Civilization

"[Visotzky] has a wonderfully earthy, human touch to his commentary, a perspective that can be especially refreshing for Christians who have seen the 'Old Testament' sanitized or ignored by their own tradition."
--San Francisco Chronicle

"Thrilling original insights . . . a new way to see and feel these old, old sentences. "
--The New York Times Magazine

"Visotzky delights in turning the gem of each story so that its facets, especially the darkest ones, gleam out at us. . . . The Genesis of Ethics is a unique contribution to Bible discussion. . . . One can only applaud and thank him. "
--Naomi Rosen, Congress Monthly

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In easy, conversational style, Burton Visotzky plumbs the profound depths of meaning in 25 of the 50 chapters of Genesis. Through a disarming sense of humor that keeps the conversation light and fresh, Visotzky confronts the reader with erudite analysis of the Genesis stories and characters and then relates them to immediate issues in present-day life. He should be applauded in his mission is to provide a ready vehicle for moral development, and for executing the task with such candor and grace. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

It's been called the Good Book for centuries, yet it begins with a tangled tale of betrayal, greed, hate, incest, and murder. Still, Visotzky, a prominent rabbi, sees goodness coming out of the Bible if readers are willing to accept it as a challenge to their own moral imagination and not simply as an inspirational story. True, Visotzky offends traditionalist sensibilities by the way he--a sixties liberal and a feminist--puts modern social theorists above God in his reading of the lives of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and the other flawed mortals who populate the middle chapters of Genesis, on which he focuses. Yet Visotzky will also mystify those progressives who see no need to retain this ancient text in the modern canon. For he does insist on the importance of the Genesis story, even as he reinterprets it in ways alien to inherited orthodoxy. Unlike that orthodoxy, which leads to faith and piety, Visotzky's revisionism guides readers toward critical scrutiny of their own moral orientation in a contemporary world as bewildering as Abraham and Sarah's. A good choice for public library religion collections. Bryce Christensen --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press (September 23, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609801678
• ISBN-13: 978-0609801673
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #296,687 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thinking about Abraham, April 10, 2004

By 

Gary Sprandel (Frankfort, Kentucky) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Genesis of Ethics (Paperback)

Rabbi Visotzky employs a tension between derash (tje implicit text and exegeses in light of the current community) and peshat (the explicit simple story in its context). Throughout the book he tries to make you have compassion for the characters. He states, "it is the whole point of moral education to be able to imagine being in another's position" (and he references John Rawls: A theory of Justice). For example, in the story of Abraham and Sarah, he tries to imagine Hagar's view not as a vessel, but as a prophet and mother of a nation. He using his own life experiences, even his divorce, to bring home the point that no one really understands what is happening in another's life. This is not your Sunday school teacher telling you what the stories mean, but rather insight into the process of discussion and moral development (with reference to Lawrence Kohlberg's moral development levels.

Much of the book focuses on Abraham and Sarah. Perhaps the story of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, begs the problem of ethical interpretation of God's action, and he references Kierkegaard's teleological suspension of the ethical. These few chapters in Genesis offer many ethical dilemmas, and this book would probably be best in a discussion group. Readers of this would also like Bill Moyer's video discussion "Genesis: A living conversation" (Visotzky is in that as well) as well as Moyer's book "Talking about Genesis".

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Updating Our Family Album, January 21, 2001

By 

"jbz52" (Syosset, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Genesis of Ethics (Hardcover)

Rabbi Visotzky brings light to the events of Abraham's family in a way that few commentators have really explored. His insight into midrash and Tanach blends this ancient world with his insight of the dynamics of today's family. He creates refreshing and believable discussions of some of the most controversial topics and applies their relevance to us today. I personally feel much more comfortable and secure in the classroom now that I have been able to view "our family" from his perspective. I look forward to reading many more of his titles.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars New Twist on an Old Favorite, August 23, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Genesis of Ethics (Paperback)

Burton Visotzky, in his down-to-earth voice, brings a new way of reading the heavenly work. He looks critically at Genesis 25-50 and in doing so opens it up to less experienced readers as well as people very familiar with the Bible. While some of his interpretations are "out-there" and others even mildly offensive to traditional readings, all are interesting and inspire as well as encourage original thinking. The Hebrew Bible may be the most read work in Western Civilization but Visotzky's book opens the reader's minds to new ways of thinking and new possibilities as to what is really there and how to relate that to contemporary life.