NY Times Book Review: Church and State, Capitalism is Good, and How to Read the Bible

Lots of good book reviews this week......

'The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics, and the Modern West'

By MARK LILLA
Reviewed by REBECCA NEWBERGER GOLDSTEIN

Mark Lilla argues that the separation of church and state was not, as some would have it, a foregone conclusion.

Ayn Rand’s Literature of Capitalism

By HARRIET RUBIN

Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged,”a glorification of the right of individuals to live entirely for their own interest, influenced Alan Greenspan and others.

• Times Topics: Ayn Rand | Alan Greenspan

Irreconcilable Differences in Bible’s Interpretations

By PETER STEINFELS

Published: September 15, 2007

“How to Read the Bible” is a most unusual how-to book. For one thing, it is more than 800 pages long and has 971 endnotes. It is true that all the familiar figures and events of the Hebrew Scriptures or Old Testament are here: Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and the prophets.

First Chapter: ‘How to Read the Bible’ By JAMES L. KUGEL
“In going through the Bible . . . this book will focus not only on what the text says but on the larger question of what a modern reader is to make of it, how it is to be read.”