How to Do Good & Avoid Evil: A Global Ethic from the Sources of Judaism [Hardcover]

Hans Kung (Author), Walter Homolka (Author), John Bowden (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2009

Explore how the principles of a global ethic can be found in Judaism and how they can provide the ethical norms for all religions to work together toward a more peaceful humankind. In 1993, the Parliament of the World's Religions endorsed the "Declaration toward a Global Ethic" composed by Hans Küng. In it, representatives from all the world's religions agreed on principles for a global ethic and committed themselves to directives of nonviolence, respect for life, solidarity, a just economic order, tolerance, and equal rights and partnership between men and women. But the declaration was just the first step.
In this impressive volume, Hans Küng, probably the most famous living Roman Catholic theologian, and Rabbi Walter Homolka, head of Germany's Abraham Geiger rabbinical seminary and distinguished professor, draw on the Jewish tradition to show the riches that Judaism can offer people of all faiths and nonbelievers in achieving these directives. Presenting key sacred texts and theological writings, the authors make the case for binding values and basic moral attitudes that can be found in Judaism's universal message of a better world. Exploring Judaism's focus on ethical conduct over declarations of faith, the authors show that making ethical decisions is indispensable in an ever-changing world.

"Enlightening and inspiring.... Convincingly shows ... all religions of the world can endorse a global ethic and each has a distinctive contribution to it. This book offers Judaism as a `case study' for a global project."
--Paul F. Knitter, Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions, and Culture, Union Theological Seminary

"At a time when people around the globe experience great division but also the unifying power of technology, this new framework offers hope for interfaith dialogue and understanding."
--Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus, president, Central Conference of American Rabbis

"Demonstrates the rich contribution Judaism can make to the development of an ethical framework for today's global society. [Gives] the Jewish tradition its rightful place at the center of the ongoing discussion of a global ethic."
--John T. Pawlikowski, OSM, PhD, professor of social ethics; director, Catholic-Jewish Studies Program, Catholic Theological Union

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After years of investigating whether basic ethical principles are shared by all people, Küng, a leading Catholic theologian, brought to the World Parliament of Religions in 1993 the issue of ethical universality. The parliament endorsed a Declaration Toward a Global Ethic, which is reprinted at the end of this book. Küng recognized the centrality of ethics in Judaism and worked with Homolka, a Jewish scholar and head of a Jewish seminary in Germany, to demonstrate how Jewish tradition contributes to worldwide values. Six core ethics are identified: the value of the human being; the golden rule; peace; justice; truth and tolerance; equal rights between men and women. For each one, quotations from Jewish sources are presented. The result is a potpourri that shows the authors' diligence in selecting useful references while also demonstrating that stringing together loosely connected citations falls short of creative scholarship. (Sept.)
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From the Inside Flap

A Globalized World Needs a Global Ethic
In today's world of political and religious unrest, there is a growing need for shared ethical will, moral force, and energy among the world's religious traditions. While representatives from the world's faith traditions addressed this need in 1993 at the Parliament of the World's Religions by endorsing Hans Küng's "Declaration toward a Global Ethic," more must be done to instill a shared set of ethical principles for all humankind--a global ethic. In response to this challenge, Judaism in particular has an important religious and ethical heritage to contribute in making this global ethic a reality. Drawing on key Jewish texts, Hans Küng and Rabbi Walter Homolka demonstrate how it is possible to achieve this global ethic through the practices and principles of Judaism. They show how the overarching message of Judaism--just action as a guiding religious principle--holds a key in the pursuit of universal peace.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 202 pages
• Publisher: Skylight Paths Publishing (April 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594732558
• ISBN-13: 978-1594732553
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #962,466 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If people would listen and do what is in this book we would live in paradise, December 30, 2009

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Israel Drazin (Boca Raton, Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How to Do Good & Avoid Evil: A Global Ethic from the Sources of Judaism (Hardcover)

If we could achieve the goals of this fine book, or even some of them, we would be living in a better world, with more joy, meaning and purpose; we would be in paradise.

In 1993, the Council of the Parliament of the World's Religions issued a Declaration Toward a Global Ethic composed by Roman Catholic priest and theologian Hans Kung. The conference comprised about two hundred scholars of many world religions. The Declaration begins with an introduction stating, "The world is in agony. The agony is so pervasive and urgent that we are compelled to name its manifestations so that the depth of this pain may be made clear. Peace eludes us - the planet is being destroyed - neighbors live in fear - women and men are estranged from each other - and children die! This is abhorrent."

The world, as the Declaration states, is mired in the mud of mistrust. However, if people would examine their religion, they would find that it encourages the behaviors and attitudes that could bring about world-wide ethical behavior. For every human of every religion faces the same primal questions: where they come from, where are they going, how can they cope with suffering and guilt, what is the meaning of life and death? All religions agree that human beings have inestimable worth.

"There is a need for a worldwide exchange (of ideas) between the religions, between worldviews in general." Kung and Rabbi Homolka, the rector of the Abraham Geiger College in Germany, wrote this book as one of the steps toward their goal, "to make this potential for a universal ethic clear from the sources of Judaism."

The book discusses six major principles of the Global Ethic Project. It presents a selection of several pages from a significant Jewish writer followed by about a dozen and a half pages of shorter frequently poignant Jewish statements from ancient and modern Jewish sources. While the sources are Jewish, they reflect the concerns and opinions of people of all faiths.

The six basic principles are:
1. Every human being must be treated humanely.
2. Do not do to others what you would not want done to you.
3. Commit to a culture of nonviolence and reverence for all life,
4. to justice and just economic order,
5. to tolerance and a life of truthfulness, and
6. to a culture of equal rights and equal partnership between men and women.

The clash of cultures and religions, Kung writes, needs to stop. It is time to come to terms with traumatic historical memories, misunderstandings and hostile images. It is time to establish peace.

Humans have two duties, the ancient Jewish philosopher Philo wrote, "duty to God as shown by piety and holiness" and "duty to men as shown by humanity and justice."

People, the philosopher and rabbi Abraham J. Heschel wrote, must remember that every human being, without exception, "partakes of an unearthly divine sort of being."

"Be concerned about your own soul and your neighbor's body," the mystic Menachem Mendel of Kozk wrote, "not about your own body and another's soul."

People cannot, indeed dare not, ignore this Global Ethic program. We must spread the word.