Religion and politics:

Remember two years ago when there was a big debate about stem-cell research? One of the key figures in that affair was Leon R. Kass, chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics, who is the author of Human Cloning and Human Dignity: The Report of the President's Council on Bioethics.

Well, guess what? He's just come out (May 2003), with another book. This one is The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis. From a book review:

[Kass] recognizes how scientific expertise has created dilemmas demanding anew the kind of moral insights that generations have gleaned from Scripture.

From the book description:

The first [section of the book] shows how the universal history described in the first eleven chapters of Genesis, from creation to the tower of Babel, conveys, in the words of Leon Kass, "a coherent anthropology" -- a general teaching about human nature -- that "rivals anything produced by the great philosophers." Serving also as a mirror for the reader's self-discovery, these stories offer profound insights into the problematic character of human reason, speech, freedom, sexual desire, the love of the beautiful, pride, shame, anger, guilt, and death.

NOTE: The first eleven chapters of Genesis consists of 6,770 words (King James Version). Which means there are only 615 words per topic*, or a bit less than 1½ pages of text in a typical book**.  Clearly, Leon Kass is extrapolating way beyond what's there.

* 6,770 / 11 : (1) human nature, (2) human reason, (3) speech, (4) freedom, (5) sexual desire, (6) the love of the beautiful, (7) pride, (8) shame, (9) anger, (10) guilt, and (11) death.
** typical book has 42 lines with 11 words per line.

posted by Quiddity at 6/21/2003 05:09:00 PM