GOD
IS THE GOOD
WE DO
Theology of Theopraxy
MICHAEL BENEDIKT
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Contents
God Is the Good We Do: Theology of Theopraxy
Copyright © 2007 by Michael Benedikt
Preface
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any
way, digital or mechanical, or by any storage and retrieval system, without
the written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in letters, articles, reviews, papers, and books where bibliographic
reference is provided.
Cover art © Estate of Ben Shahn/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY.
Detail from Bring Back My Sons From Far and My Daughters from the End of the
Earth, 964, by Ben Shahn, gouache on board.
The photograph of Louis I. Kahn at the chalkboard, ca. 963,
which appears on page 20, is by Martin Rich; reproduced by permission
of The Architectural Archives, University of Pennsylvania.
Cataloging in Publication Data:
Benedikt, Michael
God is the good we do:
theology of theopraxy/
by Michael Benedikt,
p. cm.
A critique of both traditional and modern arguments for and against the
existence of God, with a discussion of the nature of good and the problem
of evil, proposing that God exists only as human moral activity, that God is
practiced: theopraxy.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-9793754-0- (pbk)
ISBN 978-0-9793754-0-8 (pbk)
. God. 2. Good and evil. 3. Religion and science. 4. Religion and ethics
I. Title.
BT03.B36 2007
2—dc22
Neither the author nor Bottino Books has responsibility for the persistence
or accuracy of URLs for external third-party Internet websites referred to in
this book, and do not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will
remain, accurate or appropriate.
Printed in Canada
Designed by Christopher Calderhead
First Edition
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book one . declarations
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Whether or not God exists
God is not all-powerful
God did not create the universe
God is conceived in good will
God is here now and at hand
God is ignited by life
God is not Gaia
Nothing is holy
except that we sanctify it
God neither compels not threatens
God lifts us up
God is radically contingent
If God starts in a whisper
Whether or not God exists (cont.)
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book two . explanations
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God and the beginning
Theology and cosmogony
Theism, deism, pantheism...
Ways of existing
Ideas of the good
Defining “good”
Doing and believing
Theological hyperbole
The weakest force
Persons and deeds
On being wanted
The real divinity of Jesus
The Kingdom of God (and a prayer)
On nature’s beauty
and ordinary goodness
5 God’s authority versus God’s power
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The truth of theopraxy
The rightness of Genesis  and 2
Responsibility to and for
Knowledge and faith
Miracles
The creed of “deed over creed”
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book three . arguments
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Prolegomena
Martin Buber and “the image of God”
Russell and Shaw: no athesists
Abraham’s obedience
Personification and “the death of God”
Stephen Weinberg’s atheism
The problem of evil
The problem of good
Evil from human nature
Enthusiasm / extremism
How religions go bad ()
How religions go bad (2)
How religions go bad (3)
How religions go bad (4)
How religions go bad (5)
How religions go bad (6)
Five wise sayings
Ludwig Feuerbach: God as projection
From Feuerbach to Buber
God as production
Irreligious goodness
Gratitude
What difference
the theology of theopraxy?
24 Theopraxy
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5 Six kinds of prayer
6 George Santayana
7 Religious reconciliation
and theopraxy’s Seven Tenets
8 Study and practice
9 The situation of atheists
0 The first commandment
 The unsettled referent of “God”
2 Beliefs that work
3 Idolatry
4 Keeping the good name
5 More on idolatry
6 The burning bush
7 Starting with “as if ”
8 Tikkun olam
9 Man in God’s place?
20 Guidance from God, firm and gentle
2 Beholding God’s presence
22 God most contingent
23 Goodness and freedom
24 Theology of theopraxy
as a meta-religion
25 Lewis Mumford
26 “If among the stars...”
27 God as moral action
Bibliography
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book four . reflections
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Godliness
The changing image of God
Negating nihilism
Not for everyone
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