(3.5) A clear, convincing and compassionate case for why the Bible should not be the basis of societal morality. You might assume this would come from one of the New Atheists, but nope – Holloway was the Bishop of Edinburgh at the time he wrote this. His arguments are along the lines of: Christians have been too quick to codify context-specific rituals and traditions into blanket law; we have a tendency to pick and choose what we want the Bible to say (emphasizing the parts about sex and ignoring the bits about the poor and social justice); we’ve gotten it wrong before when it comes to morality (slavery is just the beginning); and, in general, we try to oversimplify the diversity and mystery of human life. This was written in 1999. The most helpful chapter is about homosexuality, while those about the legalization of marijuana, abortion and bio-ethics feel rather dated. There are many brilliant statements, but the practical application part isn’t as successful.

Some favorite lines:

“mature people try to learn to live with contradictions rather than insisting on neat resolutions.”

“this is the origin of morality, this need to find some kind of balance between instinctive and intentional life, between the drive of the species and the consciousness of the individual.”

“scripture was made for humanity and not humanity for scripture. We should not, therefore, have to torture [contort] scripture into self-contradictory positions, when it no longer conforms to our experience of truth and value. It is much more honest to abandon it”

“Morality is more an art than a science and it calls for a certain versatility from us”

“most human disagreement is between opposing goods rather than between right and wrong.”

“We assume that our pleasures, because they are ours, are more benign and less problematic than the pleasures of strangers.”

“Human nature has a tendency to hedonistic inflation, to turn good or neutral things into bad by using them excessively.”

Perhaps there is nothing revolutionary about this book, in the sense that it does not propose anything novel, but what I think makes it so special is that it is a radical text (as in very progressive, but not in a cop out "liberal" way) that is not anti-religion.

This is a very sensible, logical book, that is very thoughtfully written. I learned a lot about the Christian tradition from this book, and Holloway's explanations of Biblical passages help to contextualize a lot of the references. It is feminist and political while being quite gentle, so it is an easy read for those who may have more conservative viewpoints.

Holloway writes critically about religion and tradition without being insensitive to religious folks, and writes compassionately about historical trends without making excuses for past mistakes and transgressions. Would absolutely recommend.

I found Richard Holloway's thoughtful, compassionate writing in this collection of essays to be as thought-provoking (and wise!) as I've found it in the many other books of his which I've read.

Treat life as an Art as opposed to a science.
Music art and playfulness in all forms are spiritual experiences. Artistic creativity and ethics.
Adapt, evolve, take risks – play in life like you were a child.
Young skip to school, get fully absorbed in the now.
Humor smile fun enjoy jokes sports
Enjoy and ground yourself with nature.

Vic and I are going for a cuppa with Richard Holloway one day

*3.5 Picked up and put down a few times as wasn’t in the mood, not a reflection on the content.

Puts forward the idea of a fluid moral code that doesn’t limit itself to the constrains of scripture and organised religion. All the more interesting as written by a man of the cloth! Goes to the root of seemingly controversial / taboo ethical dilemmas and exposes hypocrisy or lack of reason, removing the nonsensically traditional from the moral.

Particularly enjoyed the chapter on genetic engineering and would be interested to read a more recent edition of this 1990’s book of short essays.

Interesting read, I really enjoyed it. Short but to the point!

Extremely intelligent book

This was pretty much my first foray into ethics/philosophy (and even, in an absent sort of way, theology), certainly since my teens. I found it fascinating, thought-provoking and will definitely be reading it again.

Lots of quotable stuff I will be sticking provocatively in my Facebook status, I think.

I would love to read more by this man whose faith (I have none) is so comfortably unfettered by random collections of interesting old writings cobbled together nearly 2000 years ago.