Leviticus: You Have No Idea

Leviticus has been called irrelevant primitive and a backwater of the Bible even by scholars and people of faith who treasure Scripture. Many find it alienating or at minimum confusing. In Leviticus: You Have No Idea Rabbi Maurice D. Harris offers readers surprising new ways of looking at the Bibles least popular (and least understood) book. Grounded in his progressive religious values and beliefs Rabbi Harris approaches the various laws rituals and stories of Leviticus with an open-minded curiosity about what we can learn today about life ethics God and higher meaning by studying this text. Taking the Bible seriously but not literally Harris uses a plain-spoken accessible style to explain confusing elements of Leviticus. He explores topics that matter to many of us in contemporary society including LGBT equality the dangers of religious fundamentalism the impacts of childhood trauma criminal justice reform and more. With this book the author invites us into an ancient text that read with care challenges us to be better people and help repair this broken world. While the book of Leviticus may be an acquired taste for contemporary religious seekers luckily for us Rabbi Maurice Harris has found his way into the books mysteries. He is an ideal guide leading readers gently through some of the most challenging verses in the Torah. Rabbi Harris brings creativity and knowledge of multiple disciplines to his reading of the text sharing his insights with admirable clarity. --Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kreimer Reconstructionist Rabbinical College Harris whets the appetite for culinary students of Scripture that will not only make Leviticus more palatable but he shows why it should be part of a balanced diet for Jews and Christians alike. Smart but not overly academic Leviticus should be recommended reading for all who have had any questions about how to read Leviticus in our modern world. --Daniel E. H. Bryant Senior Minister First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Eugene Oregon Rabbi Maurice Harris may be the first writer to excite readers about the book of Leviticus by taking scholarly insights and applying them to contemporary social challenges. . . . For those of us who seek to find prompts in the Bible to make us more responsible more compassionate and more connected human beings Harris has provided a wonderful gift in opening up these seemingly irrelevant materials. --From the Foreword by S. Tamar Kamionkowski Reconstructionist Rabbinical College Maurice D. Harris is a rabbi and writer living in Eugene Oregon. A graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College he has worked as a congregational rabbi and religious educator. He is the author of Moses: A Stranger among Us also from Cascade Books.