Includes bibliographical references (p. 143-197) and index.

Introduction: Secularists and the Not Godless World 1 -- Part 1 The Composition of the Hebrew Bible -- Part 2 The Interpreters of the Hebrew Bible -- Part 3 Politics and Scripture -- Conclusion: Beyond Church and State: New Directions for Secularism 130.

"In The Secular Bible: Why Nonbelievers Must Take Religion Seriously, Jacques Berlinerblau suggests that atheists and agnostics must take stock of that which they so adamantly oppose. Defiantly maintaining a shallow understanding of religion, he argues, is not a politically prudent strategy in this day and age. But this book is no less critical of many believers, who - Berlinerblau contends - need to emancipate themselves from ways of thinking about their faith that are dangerously simplistic, irrational, and outdated. Exploring the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, from the perspective of a specialist, nonbeliever, and critic of the academic religious studies establishment, Berlinerblau begins by offering a provocative answer to the question of "who wrote the Bible?""--BOOK JACKET.

Description based on print version record.