By TOM COLLS - BBC TODAY
Added: Thu, 07 Apr 2011 20:55:22 UTC

Thank to Kim Z for the link.

In the beginning was the word and the word was... good? Four hundred years after the publication of the King James Bible, philosopher AC Grayling has written a book which offers atheists a "bible" of their very own.

In The Good Book, Professor Grayling attempts to whisk together in one tome the wisdom of Ancient Greek philosophers, Confucian sages, medieval poets and the discoveries of modern science.

Without any reference to gods, souls or afterlives, it aims to give atheists a book of inspiration and guidance as they make their way in the world.

In place of the more well-known Ten Commandments, his atheist principles are: "Love well, seek the good in all things, harm no others, think for yourself, take responsibility, respect nature, do your utmost, be informed, be kind, be courageous."

Professor Grayling, the president elect of the British Humanist Association, is unambivalent about the biblical mission of his work.

"The point about the religious bible is that it purports to give us some direction. It contains the commands of a divinity wishing us to live a certain way," he says.

"In fact it has a message which is that there is one great truth and one right way to live.

"The modest offering of The Good Book is that there are as many good lives as there are people who have the talent to live them, and that people must take the responsibility for thinking for themselves and making that decision for themselves.

"What this book does is try and offer them resources for thinking about that."

The biblical comparison, however, is a little early in the book's life, according to Melvyn Bragg, author of The Book of Books: The Radical Impact of the King James Bible 1611-2011.

"When you're talking about the King James Bible, you're talking about one of the greatest works in English literature, perhaps world literature," he says.
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TAGGED: BOOKS, PHILOSOPHY