How Good Do We Have to Be? A New Understanding of Guilt and Forgiveness

Rabbi Kushner takes us back to the very beginning - back through Genesis to the Garden of Eden and re-examines the story of Adam and Eve. He re-evaluates the "curses" for eating of the Tree of Knowledge in a new, refreshing, and affirming way. All of this helps to explain the human conditions of shame and guilt and sheds a whole new light on the concept of Original Sin. There is much to chew on and ponder about this book. I have thought back to it daily (& quoted it often) since I finished it.It is an easy read and worth reading slowly - letting the new perspectives wash over and settle in. It has changed my life in a way that very few other books have. I am a second year seminary student so I have a lot of "spiritual" reading - this was one I read on the recommendation of a CPE resident. I recommend it highly to anyone - especially those who may struggle with their own myth of perfection and what it means to be good enough.

Thank you so very much! This copy was obviously somehow perfectly preserved. Having read it years ago (25+) and having lost my copy, I hoped to replace it with whatever I could get. I am thrilled!!! 5 Stars A+++The book itself is excellent BTW, and extremely wise.

This book was great! My son died 3 years ago at the age of 24 by suicide. As a person of faith, I had a lot of questions. No one was able to tackle my questions, then I accidently picked up this book and most of my searching was over. I have not read the book he is most famous for, but this was wonderful. I told many people to buy this book and bought 4 copies to give out. It carefully written and he is a deep thinker. I didn't read it because of my son, but thought the title was interesting.

Self-help books have a (deserved) reputation of being both trite and loaded with psycho-babble. This book is an exception. I liked the reinterpretation of Eve's act of eating and sharing the apple. It was an act of liberation for mankind, one of the bravest acts in human history - in fact, it made possible humanity *entering* history by finally giving us a choice of good and evil It is perhaps the sincerity and simplicity of Kushner subsequent message that moved me: You don't have to be perfect to be loved, nor should you expect people you love to be perfect. You should love the whole person; not disregard their faults ("blind love"), but accept the person with their quirks and iconoclastic behavior.Whenever I get angry with someone I love, I think about that, and my anger vanishes. I bought a copy for my sister.

I find this book to be more helpful that the Bible, in understanding guilt and forgiveness than I have ever heard in a Christian setting. Guilt has been the cause of much emotional and mental dis-ease. An he offers us a new way to understand God's attitude to move us along in our spiritual journey to a better way to see ourselves relative to God. I appreciate understanding that concept of original sin as defined by Augustine in 300+- AD was not God's intent, but that human beings, different from other mammals, would have a moral and ethical dimension of the human mind that would be important in all the choices we as humans would face in our earthly journey. He offers an excellent conclusive paragraph to end his book for us to live up too.

As a lifelong Catholic, this really challenged me...in a good way. Kushner lays out a compelling case for his book and backs it up. My favorite part of the book was this; "The person who claims to be perfect, without flaw or defect, is claiming to be like God. The person who knows his flaws all too well is open to God's love and God's presence because he realizes he is not God. In the words of authors Ernest Kurtz and Katherine Ketcham, "Imperfection is the wound that lets God in."

Wonderful book. I have several of rabbi Kushner's books, and this one, like the others is written in a way that makes his teachings clear and useful. I will use his insights in my work with others.

Rabbi Kushner has written an elegant reprise of the story of the garden of Eden, and shows us by example that the expectations of perfection are misplaced on humans, and that the failure to reach perfection is what makes humans so humane, giving us the truth power of empathy and compassion. I would strongly recommend this book for all teachers and middle to high school students, as it opens an honest self-inspection of our goals and intents, our self-doubts and our power to make wise chooses and share compassion and understanding. We are human. We are not perfect. That is what makes us enough.

Great book whether you are religious or not. Inspired in the personal process of the author, it’s impossible not to feel challenged by the opinions set in its pages.

This is a really comforting and helpful book for any one who is experiencing tragedy or hurt especially .

Loved reading this!!

Empowering.

Good to know that nobody is perfect and nobody has to be perfect