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

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.

Religion & Spirituality

Homolka, Rabbi Walter

Küng, Hans

Judaism

SkyLight Paths

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.

Jesus Reclaimed: Jewish Perspectives on the Nazarene

After centuries of persecution, oppression, forced migrations, and exclusion in the name of Christ, the development of a Jewish “Quest for the Historical Jesus” might seem unexpected.  This book gives an overview and analysis of the various Jewish perspectives on the Nazarene throughout the centuries, emphasizing the variety of German voices in Anglo-American contexts. It explores the reasons for a steady increase in Jewish interest in Jesus since the end of the eighteenth century, arguing that this growth had a strategic goal: the justification of Judaism as a living faith alongside Christianity.

History

World

Berghahn Books

Product Description 
 After centuries of persecution, oppression, forced migrations, and exclusion in the name of Christ, the development of a Jewish “Quest for the Historical Jesus” might seem unexpected. This book gives an overview and analysis of the various Jewish perspectives on the Nazarene throughout the centuries, emphasizing the variety of German voices in Anglo-American contexts. It explores the reasons for a steady increase in Jewish interest in Jesus since the end of the eighteenth century, arguing that this growth had a strategic goal: the justification of Judaism as a living faith alongside Christianity. 
 Review 
 “Homolka offers a knowledgeable and very readable overview over the engagement of Jewish scholars and intellectuals with the historical Jesus.” • Deutschlandfunk 
 “The book is to be recommended…It provides a good overview of the most important ‘Jewish’ approaches to Jesus, which can serve to initiate further discussions and theological rethinking.” • Theologische Literaturzeitung 
 “Perhaps the most significant contribution of the book is the chapter on Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict), whose trilogy on Jesus was largely ignored by Jewish scholars. Rabbi Homolka’s careful and thoughtful assessment of Pope Benedict’s views are important for Jews to read and understand. Rabbi Homolka’s book returns the discussion of “Jesus the Jew” to some of its original roots in Germany 150 years ago to a newly reconstituted twenty-first-century Jewish community there… required reading for those engaged in modern dialogue.” • Journal of Jewish Identities 
 “…a brief and very helpful summary of a large body of scholarly work [that] includes an extensive and very useful bibliography.” • Journal of Ecumenical Studies 
 “The book is well researched and is presented in a way that is accessible to any adult reader. This title would be appropriate for any collection serving an adult population.” • Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews 
 “Homolka’s book is not only a very good introduction to an important topic, but it is also a kind of catalog with running comments on central theses and publications but also on studies in art history and literature on this topic.” • Christoph Marschkies, President of the Academy of Arts and Sciences Berlin-Brandenburg in Die Kirche 
 “On the basis of integral bible hermeneutic the new Jewish interpretation of the Jew Jesus also is for us Christians a genuine enrichment.” • Henryk J. Muszyński, Archbishop emeritus of Gnesen/Gniezo, Poland 
 “This book offers a constructive contribution to the debates on the theological significance of Jewish and Christian approaches to the historical Jesus. The author’s knowledge of Jewish and Christian discourses on both sides of the Atlantic is impressive.” • Werner G. Jeanrond, University of Oxford 
 About the Author 
 Rabbi Walter Homolka is the rector of the Abraham Geiger College, Germany’s first rabbinical seminary after the Holocaust, and a professor of Modern Jewish Thought at the School of Jewish Theology of the University of Potsdam in Germany. Active in Jewish-Christian dialogue, he is author of many books, including The Gate to Perfection: The Idea of Peace in Jewish Thought (Berghahn 1995), Jewish Identity in Modern Times: Leo Baeck and German Protestantism (Berghahn 1995), co-author with Rabbi Aaron D. Panken of Engaging Torah: Modern Perspectives on The Hebrew Bible (Hebrew Union College Press), and co-author with Hans Küng of How to Do Good & Avoid Evil: A Global Ethic from the Sources of Judaism (Skylight Paths, 2009).

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Homolka, Rabbi Walter. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Homolka, Rabbi Walter

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Homolka, Rabbi Walter. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

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

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

Jesus Reclaimed: Jewish Perspectives on the Nazarene

Jesus Reclaimed: Jewish Perspectives on the Nazarene