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God Is the Good We Do: Theology of Theopraxy

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God is the Good We Do is, by turns, profound, witty, poetic, and ultimately very practical. Thoroughly researched and beautifully argued, Benedikt's "Theology of Theopraxy" is also strikingly original. I believe this book will be discussed for many years.

Those who are uncomfortable with "God talk," but who understand that "God" is too important to be surrendered to fundamentalists should prove to be a receptive audience for God is the Good We Do. (Fans of John Shelby Spong take note.) Benedikt argues for a God that co-evolves with us, that is as dependent on us as we are on "Him," and that calls us to reverential, creative acts of good-doing. Here, God is not the all powerful originator, but rather, the "newest and weakest" force in the universe, one that is realized only when we choose to do good.

I highly recommend God is the Good We Do to both believers and non-believers alike. Rarely, have I read a work that has gotten under my skin in the way that this book has. Be prepared to be intellectually challenged for this is a serious work of philosophy and theological inquiry. Be prepared also to think about God and the potential for doing-good in an entirely new way. God is the Good We Do will lift you up, and hopefully, inspire you to do the same for those who share your world.

This book has given me a refreshing new way to make sense of the concept of God. Having grown up in the Unitarian church, I was given so many choices. There is good in most religions of the world, yet I could never quite find one that rang true to me. The wisdom I found in this book has given me a new tool with which to accept the various religious traditions without so much worry over the particulars. If the practice, religious or otherwise, results in good of a concrete nature actually being done, it is the practice of God (theopraxy.) It rings true, no matter what church you go to.

To see God as the youngest and weakest force in the universe, rather than the oldest and strongest, lifts eyebrows with most people I've discussed it with. You have to reverse roles; God being the child and you being the parent. God's existence "happens" or is born with every instance of good doing. Somehow, looking at it this way replaces the "fear of God" with the pull to create and nurture God. It opens a discussion among thinking people of all religions, about our responsibility in creating the good in this world.

It's a brilliant prospective and thoughtfully written. Benedikt first presents the ideas in poetry and builds upon that framework to fully illuminate each aspect of his philosophy. With all the references and footnotes, you could spin off into the depths of intellectual exploration to your heart's content. Yet, if you didn't read them at all, you would still understand the concepts and be thoroughly entertained and intrigued. You will want to keep the book around, so that you can go back and read parts of it again to reflect on.

--Judy Parker, Austin, Texas

Michael Benedikt's recent book, God is the Good We Do, is a plea for what he calls theopraxy, which is built around the concept of God as something that just happens when people do good things, rather like a flame just happens when people light a match or a fire. God didn't even exist until evolution produced sentient beings with a conscience. He/she is our responsibility rather than the other way around. She/he is what lights up our lives and makes us feel good when we do good.

It seems to me that this is about as harmless a definition of what used to be called The Almighty as can be imagined. One could argue that ascribing great powers to some almighty being or force in the sky is a buck-passing device that has often created problems for believers, and a more modest approach might work better. Denying that your deity is omnipotent and benevolent certainly solves the problem of evil, for one thing. And if doing good is what morality is all about, what's the difference, from a purely functional perspective, if the end result is for people thinking in moral terms and acting in moral ways?

Of course, it all hinges on how you define âaegoodâ. Benedikt devotes a separate chapter to this which takes off from the following proposition: âaeGood is what we call all free human actions that preserve, honor, and promote all forms and instances of life.â There are caveats, of course, fine print spelling out how you resolve some of the more obvious dilemmas you find when applying this simple rule to the real world. There are weaknesses in this approach; certainly it leaves much to be worked out elsewhere. But at least, it's a starting point for a more expansive exploration of the nature of good behavior in this modern era.

I have to acknowledge that despite some discomfort with the constant repetition of the term âaeGodâ, I enjoyed the book and found it profitable, both as an exercise in the never-ending search for the good, and on a more mundane level for flashes of dry but wise wit. I can recommend it to anyone interested in the issues it raises, even though the reader might not agree with all its content. It is thoughtful and, considering the density of the subject matter, commendably clear and well written.

Carl Coon
Progressive Humanism

Taking a cue from my landsman Larry Bush, (Waiting for God: The Spiritual Reflections of a Reluctant Atheist), I am, faute de mieux, a nontheist. For lack of a theology which makes sense of the world I've experienced, and the world others have experienced for me, I subscribe to Rabbi Yitz Greenberg's elegiac postmortem: "The Holocaust confronts us with unanswerable questions. But let us agree to one principle: no statement, theological or otherwise, should be made that would not be credible in the presence of the burning children."

I happened upon a review by Mitchell Silver of GOD IS THE GOOD WE DO in an article entitled "The Case Against God" in the March 2008 issue of Jewish Currents. Silver's voice is one I take seriously as I typify the target readership of his (Respecting the Wicked Child: A Philosophy of Secular Jewish Identity and Education). Silver readily concedes: "Benedikt makes a comprehensive case for his theology, which he calls theopraxy. He does so with deep learning, intellectual honesty, and humane wisdom, and his may be about the best God a full commitment to rationality will allow." But, with the other hand: "Benedikt knows full well that that [the God of theopraxy] is not what the overwhelming majority of people mean or have meant when they speak of God." Silver goes on to say: "...Benedikt's God-as-good-deeds is all inspiration and no consolation," and summarily: "As a remedy for the absence of a powerful, caring, benevolent protector, 'do the good you can' -- even if it is the only treatment that has any material therapeutic value at all -- is so overmatched by the disease, the human condition and all of the evils that flesh is heir to, that I hesitate to rail against the metaphysical snake-oil industry. Placebos have their place. Most people would rather feel good than be rational -- or perhaps it may, indeed, be highly rational to keep God, the loving parent, the mother of all placebos, ensconced in heaven."

There is, among the "New Atheists" like Sam Harris, but also here in Silver's review, an approach I call "shooting God in a barrel." This is where a writer freezes the symbols and metaphors for God in their canonical forms, refuses to allow that "God" could (or should) mean anything other, then fires away at them knowing that his childhood bogeyman won't rise and fire back. This, to me, is merely the obverse of the oft-repeated pablum that "there is only one God" which is, actually, half a sentence; the other half is "and that is the God that I worship and you should (and will) too."

Michael Benedikt has taken God out of the God business entirely. There is in GOD IS THE GOOD WE DO no creator, no commander of mitzvot, no punisher of sins or rewarder of conventional morals. The theoprax God is not a being of any kind, nor did this God exist before a human being first performed an altruistic deed. The God of theopraxy comes into being and ceases to be with our enactment or lack of enactment of actions which "preserve, honor and promote all forms and instances of life... except those whose flourishing depends on other forms and instances of life that are roughly equal to, or clearly more evolved than, themselves." [p. 47 passim]

The God of theopraxy is not merely an ethical fiction. God is sensible in the effects on ourselves and others of our acts of beauty, decency, and courage. These effects may be, as Mitchell Silver says, "no sweet Jesus," but what may be obvious to some may be too subtle for others.

GOD IS THE GOOD WE DO may not help a reader become a 'better' Jew or Christian or Muslim in the conventional sense, but it could very well provide a solid hermeneutic approach to appreciating Torah, Bible, or Qu'ran. Some may find themselves able to participate in their religion's liturgies or prescribed actions with a new understanding. Others like myself remain staunchly secular. But for all of us there is poetry and hope in a world created by the God we create -- a God of still small voice, a God which (or who) is as evanescent as our next choice for or against the good -- a God which no man or woman could ever use against another human or sentient being with impunity.

For those of us who struggle with some of the contradictions of modern religion, but for whom pure secularism is not a sufficient answer, Benedikt's book clearly articulates possibilities about our lives, our relationships to one another and our relationship to the divine. Traditional religion answers three basic questions that humans have struggled with since the dawn of history - what are the origins of life, how should we live our lives, and what happens to us after we die? Benedikt's book explores the second question, offering an inspired 'operator's manual' for life. At the same time, he leaves the other questions unexplored, preferring to allow the reader to rely on their own religious, secular or scientific explanations.

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