The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis

I've read Genesis from beginning to end many times, and I've enjoyed many excellent commentaries on this book including Derek Kidner, Bruce Waltke, John Walton, and Robert Alter. I can definitely add Leon Kass to the list. What I most appreciated about Kass is how seriously he takes the individual words--the details--of Genesis. I don't agree with him about all his conclusions, but he makes careful and cogent arguments. I particularly appreciated his giving credit--by name--to insights from students in his classes over the years, and he humbly conceded a number of times that those insights changed his mind on particular issues. I just ordered his sequel on Exodus: "Founding God's Nation: Reading Exodus" and can't wait to begin it.

As the author points out, most books on the Bible come from either of two points of view: 1) historical, how did the book come about? or 2) from a particular religious tradition.The problem with the historical approach is that it tends to debunk the contents and rarely offers much insight into the contents.The problem with the latter is that, although a religious tradition can enrich our understanding of the text, it can narrow our vision. The text comes to serve the agenda of the particular tradition.Neither approach treats this extraordinarily rich text with the respect that it deserves. Kass offers a philosophical, deep reading of Genesis that is engrossing and very readable.This is one of the most interesting books that I have ever read.

If you are interested in exploring what the study of Genesis can tell you about human nature, this is the book to get. I can't say that I agree with Kass on everything, but that's really not the point on reading a book like this. This is a 650+ page book explaining Genesis; of course a reader isn't going to agree with him on everything. Kass highlights the *questions* that one should ask and then he delivers in clear writing and analysis his philosophical interpretation of the passages in question. He pays careful attention to the text to explore the nature of human beings, not so much at the historical or cultural circumstances at the time of the writing. In so doing, Kass seeks to find the eternal and the universal in humanity. Unlike some authors who may hide behind ambiguity,, Kass doesn't hide a thing.In particular, I was drawn to this book because of my confusion and almost obsession to find a clear explanation of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Kass does just that. First, he explains that the original Hebrew is not "good and evil," but rather "good and bad." The word, "bad" in Hebrew encompasses not only moral good and bad (good and evil) but also all the other bads - pain, sickness, calamity, financial loss, etc. This changes the starting point for understanding the tree, and as such changes the interpretation. I have three Bibles, all of which describe the tree as the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If you start from that premise, you start incorrectly. This is just one small example of the insight that Kass provides. This is a book not to be read, but studied. And by studying it the reader will be drawn to even more resources to understand the phenomenal book of Genesis.

The Beginning of Wisdom is a wondrous product resulting from many years of teaching and reflection on the book of Genesis by biochemist and ethicist, Leon Kass. This book makes Genesis accessible for those who perhaps depend too greatly on rationalization and struggle with faith. Rather than using theological or literary approaches, Kass extracts meaning from the Bible with a philosophical and wisdom seeking spirit. The resulting work is an enjoyable feast of a multitude of insights about human nature, marriage, families, politics, etc.`The Beginning of Wisdom' is broken into two parts. The first part is more abstract and metaphorical since it focuses on stories from the Garden of Eden to the Tower of Babel. The tone of the second part, which focuses on Abraham and his descendents, is more explanatory and reads like play-by-play commentary.When it comes to Biblical exegesis a reader should always be skeptical of one persons interpretation especially if they're unfamiliar with their work. Fortunately I found Kass' conclusions well reasoned, albeit a little verbose. With some editing the book could've been cut down to 500 or even 400 pages but Kass' detailed analysis and conversational tone compels the reader to commit through his 700pg text. Rarely does Kass make wild extrapolations never deviating from what is explicitly stated in the Bible. If he does, he admits as he did when he tried to draw connections between the creation story and Darwinism, but what would you expect from a biochemist?On a side note, one of the downsides of the growing secularization of society is that many discard the Bible as a sexist relic of ancient superstition. As Kass reinforces with his book, nothing can be further from the truth. Even for the atheist with an open mind, the Bible can serve as tremendously rich source of wisdom that can teach us about who we are as self-conscious creatures struggling to make sense out of our existence.This book is highly recommended.

This is a weighty book written by a great teacher. I bought five or so more copies of this book and gave them to family and friends to read and learn and use as reference in what I considered a necessary part of an education. My father read this book and then he began recommending it to his friends and used it as a tool in classes he was teaching. I read the book in groupings of about three to five pages at a time and then left the pages to ruminate the content. This is not a spiritual book but some may receive much of the words as such. This is a book about life and history and wisdom. You may want to invest some time in the writing of Leon Kass.

Such a poorly bound edition with flimsy cover at an exorbitant price by Amazon. But the content is excellent and I would recommend trying to purchase an alternative edition. Don't if possible, buy the Amazon print run. Best to try and get a second hand hard back copy

Uno de los mejores libros que hemos leído sobre el Génesis.Altamente recomendado para todos los que buscan un punto de vista profundo e inspirados.

Superb !

Good read but nothing new - well written