No Other Gods: The Politics of the Ten Commandments

Description

An insightful and fresh perspective of the Ten Commandments reveals how this ancient text is the underpinning for social justice, equality, and the foundation of society. Each commandment is expanded beyond interpersonal morality to encompass the global economy and our hyper-connected age. Stealing, for example, is recast as the difference between the fair trade price of a commodity and what we pay. Keeping the Sabbath is recast as resistance to consumer culture, having enough. The Ten Commandments are a resource for everyone, from the spiritual-but-not-religious to the deeply observant, who wants to resist injustice, heal our earth, and find personal dignity amid the free-for-alls of modern life. We don't have to invent a bunch of new practices to meaningfully integrate our spirituality and politics. There is already a perfectly good set of ten of them, with as much progressive firepower as any of us can handle, that has existed for some 3000 years. Introduction: The Ten Commandments Are Practices of Liberation The First Commandment: You Shall Have No Other Gods Besides Me Dethrone the Modern Deities of Political, Social, and Corporate Power The Second Commandment: Do Not Make for Yourself a Sculpted Image; Do Not Bow to Them, Do Not Serve Them Accept No Substitutes for God's Power of Liberation The Third Commandment: Do Not Take the Name of God in Vain Defend the Goodness of God; Take Responsibility for Resistance and Change The Fourth Commandment: Observe the Sabbath Day and Keep it Holy Squander One Day Every Week The Fifth Commandment: Honor Your Father and Your Mother Stay Accountable to Where You Came From The Sixth Commandment: Do Not Kill Renounce Human and Ecological Violence The Seventh Commandment: Do Not Commit Adultery Stay In for the Long Run, Reject Throw-Away Culture The Eighth Commandment: Do Not Steal Pay What Stuff Really Costs in Fair Wages and the Planet's Resources The Ninth Commandment: Do Not Testify Against Your Neighbor As a Lying Witness Speak and Demand Truth in Every Sphere - Home, Corporations, Government The Tenth Commandment: Do Not Covet Practice Your Liberation--You Have Enough, You Are Enough

ANA LEVY-LYONS is senior minister of First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn, a quickly-growing urban Unitarian Universalist congregation. She earned a BA from Brown University and an M.Div. from the University of Chicago Divinity School. Like most Gen Xers, her career has followed a winding path, from founding a web startup to a foray as a singer-songwriter. (She won the SIBL International Songwriting Competition and received a glowing review in Billboard magazine). Her sermons have received numerous awards and she also blogs in Huffington Post and Tikkun online. Ideally positioned to write this book, Levy-Lyons has a foot in the world of secular humanism (with its critique of religion) and a foot in the world of religion (with its critique of spiritually impoverished modernity). Years of study and practice in the Jewish Renewal movement, as well as graduate study and Biblical Hebrew proficiency, equip her to offer a fresh and engaging perspective on the Ten Commandments to both worlds.

. . . extending the meanings of the Ten Commandments to include the many idols and possible ways that a modern person could kill, break trust, or bear false witness, if not directly then with our purchases, our silences, our acquiescence in the corporate systems that surround us, the author has brought these three thousand-year-old commandments back as powerful iconoclastic tools for breaking free. --Natan Margalit, Tikkun magazine Ana Levy-Lyons has written the book we need right now, NO OTHER GODS: The Politics of the Ten Commandments. This easily accessible, thoughtful and fresh exploration of the ten commandments peels away the layers of conservative fundamentalism so that we can see with new eyes how the ancient wisdom of the ten commandments can support us best at a time when the world is literally on fire. I work every day with people whose faith has been challenged by the crushing reality of nuclear war, climate change, poverty, and white supremacy crashing in upon us. Through her exegesis of the ten commandments, Levy-Lyons guides us off the brink of despair so we can recommit to live in ways that are personally sustaining and sustaining for the planet. This book is a welcome addition to a growing cadre of work helping us find new sustenance from the roots of our spiritual traditions.--Dr. Sharon Groves, Vice President, Auburn Seminary NO OTHER GODS offers a passionate, biblically-grounded spiritual roadmap for Christians and others seeking a way forward in our age of individualism and materialism. Levy-Lyons translates the ancient ethical wisdom of the Ten Commandments into powerful practices for love, meaning, and impact today. Smart, pastoral, and practical, NO OTHER GODS should be on your shelf.--Rev. Dr. Jacqueline Lewis, Senior Minister, Middle Collegiate Church NO OTHER GODS provides spiritual grounding for engagement with the political realities we face today. It is a major contribution to those who have been alienated from religion by its often deadening articulation, and also to those who seek ethical guidance apart from any religion. Ana Levy-Lyons is one of the most significant new voices in theology and cultural theory.--Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun magazine and author of eleven books including the national bestseller The Left Hand of God: Taking Back our Country from the Religious Right The Ten Commandments come alive again as ancient wisdom is applied to the issues of today with startling clarity and depth. NO OTHER GODS is a compassionate book, responding to the alienation of modern life and helping to irrigate our souls. It is also a sharp challenge to us all, exposing the other gods we worship every day and calling us to an elevated way of life. This resource for living spiritual lives in a secular world is a treasure for Jews, non-Jews, and those suffering from 'post-traumatic God disorder.'--Rabbi David Ingber, Founder and Senior Rabbi of Romemu