Acknowledgments
INTRODUCTION
Religion’s Autoimmune Disease
CHAPTER ONE
You Are Your Brother’s Keeper:
The Religious Ethic of Nonindifference
CHAPTER TWO
God Intoxication and God Manipulation
CHAPTER THREE
Recovering from God Intoxication
CHAPTER FOUR
Immunizing Against God Manipulation
CHAPTER FIVE
When Scripture Is the Problem
CHAPTER SIX
Do I Have to Believe in God to Be
a Good Jew?
CONCLUSION
Putting God First by Putting God Second
References
Index
Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman is president of the Shalom Hartman Institute and the author of The Boundaries of Judaism, coeditor of Judaism and the Challenges of Modern Life, and coauthor of Spheres of Jewish Identity. He is the founder of some of the most extensive education, training, and enrichment programs for scholars, educators, rabbis, and religious and lay leaders in Israel and North America, and is a prominent essayist, blogger, and lecturer on issues of Israeli politics and policy, Judaism, and the Jewish community.
“A stimulating and sure-to-be discussed critique of
monotheism.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“In this accessible exploration of how faith in God can determine
and influence personality, Hartman (The Boundaries of Judaism)
successfully engages with what he believes to be the most
fundamental question of our time. He notes that the causes of the
world’s great conflicts have begun to shift from ‘national and
secular’ politics to religious ones. Given this, Hartman wonders
whether religion actually makes believers treat others with more
compassion and kindness. Despite his own deep commitment to
Judaism, the rabbi does not flinch from exposing many examples,
including some from the Bible, that argue against the idea of
religion as a force for good. Using his own religion as his lens,
Hartman analyzes the phenomena he labels God Intoxication and God
Manipulation; in the former, obsession with paying attention to the
divine leaves ‘less room...to be aware of the human condition,’ and
in the latter, ‘God is drafted in the service of human
self-interest’ to advance an individual’s personal interests and
agendas. Hartman makes a powerful case that believers should both
judge the word of God and ‘be inspired and instructed’ by it, and
that putting people first is the real way to follow the divine
will.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Eminently readable, constructively controversial and profoundly
spiritual...This book is not for the spiritually
faint-hearted.”
—The Jerusalem Post
“This is an intellectually lively work that illuminates and
advances the conversation on religious faith. Putting God Second
paints a portrait for religion in the modern world and makes the
case for a view of religion in which love of persons and an
affirmation of their dignity, integrity, and worth stand at the
center of religious faith. In doing so, Hartman rescues religion
from both its most reactionary exponents and its ‘cultural
detractors’ who would bind religion into fundamentalist
straitjackets.”
—Rabbi David Ellenson, director of the Schusterman Center for
Israel Studies at Brandeis University and author of Jewish Meaning
in a World of Choice
“Putting God Second addresses the most critical issues facing
religion in the modern world. As Hartman brilliantly argues, it’s
too simplistic to join Hitchens, Dawkins, and Harris in reducing
religion to the cause of centuries of bloodshed and hatred, or to
side with those who only see in religion the inspiring teachings
that ennoble humanity. Instead, Hartman offers a sophisticated and
compelling analysis of the flaws within Jewish scriptures as a
model for other monotheistic faiths, and outlines a remarkable new
way to keep our relationship with God from overshadowing our
responsibility to God’s many children.”
—Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism
“A work of deep faith that takes today’s challenges to faith head
on—rooted in the tradition, yet alive to the new. Religious
self-criticism is essential to twenty-first-century peace. Rabbi
Donniel Hartman shows why and how.”
—James Carroll, author of Christ Actually
“Putting God Second is a must-read book for anyone who is looking
for a fresh take on religion and religiosity of all kinds. Its
powerful argument invites people of all faiths (or no faith) to
re-examine the basic premises of religion altogether. Only a
faithful Jew could put forth such a challenge, and Rabbi Hartman
does it spectacularly.”
—Abdullah T. Antepli, Chief Representative of Muslim Affairs, Duke
University
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