How To Do Good & Avoid Evil: A Global Ethic From The Sources Of Judaism

Book Summary

In 1993, the World Parliament of Religions endorsed the "Declaration towards a Global Ethic" based on the premise that the only way to peace among nations was achieving peace among religions, and that peace would only come through dialogue and understanding. With this declaration, drafted by Rev. Dr. Hans Kung, representatives from all the world's religions agreed on principles for a global ethic and committed themselves to directives of non-violence, 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 How to Do Good and Avoid Evil, the acclaimed Rev. Dr. Hans Kng and Walter Homolka illustrate how achieving these directives is possible by examining them through the lens of Judaism. The authors make the case for a fundamental consensus on binding values, irrevocable criteria and basic moral attitudes, which can be found in Judaism's universal message that action over belief offers hope of a better world. By exploring Judaism's focus on ethical conduct over declarations of faith, its intrinsic tolerance toward other religions based on openness to more than one way to salvation, and the application of human interpretation of scriptures, the authors show a working model for making ethical decisions possible in an ever-changing world.

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