In my twenties, when I knew everything, was a hardcore liberal and a self proclaimed atheist (having been born and raised a Catholic), Sean Hannity brought me to conservatism. In my 30’s, I was too bogged down with my first marriage, getting a house, having a child, going through a divorce, and rebuilding my life to care much about anything else. In my 40’s, in addition to finding my loving wife, I found Dennis Prager. Mr. Prager is not a “firebrand conservative” who wants to get you all excited so that you may go out and shout others down. He is a calm, rational thinker. His mind is his weapon, his intellect is his tool, and his demeanor makes it difficult for a reasonable person to simply dismiss him, let alone dislike him. He utterly changed my debating style from “hard hitting, in your face” to “here are my facts, what do you have to say, let’s discuss it”. He is the epitome of the old saying, “you get more flies with honey than you do vinegar”.
I had every intention of purchasing this book. In fact, I preordered it. I read the first chapter when he sent it to his fans, and I loved it. I purchased the kindle version for myself, and a hardcover copy for the Reverend of my church. When I saw how nice the book looked, I decided to purchase a hardcover copy for myself to proudly display in my home bookcase of “chosen books”. I have since purchased an additional copy for my best friend. I’ll likely purchase a copy for any of my family and friends who express interest in reading it. It is that profound.
I attended a private Catholic school from grades 1 through 8, and I then went to a private Catholic school through high school. Simply put, I learned more from this book about Exodus than I did from all those years in school. Mr. Prager is a brilliant man, who has debated at Oxford University on several occasions. He has been studying the Bible for decades, and his wealth of knowledge is evident in the book. He goes line by line through Exodus, and offers his explaination in layman’s terms. I believe what makes this book invaluable is, Mr. Prager is not trying to convert anyone to any specific religion. One does not feel that buried within his commentary is a certain degree of political correctness out of fear of offense. His only desire is to explain the book of Exodus to you. To, as the title says, explain just how rational the Bible is, when you know it in it’s full context. I have learned so much. To say that this book has strengthened my faith is a gross understatement. Simply put, I wish he would offer his insight on the entire Bible, both Old and New Testament!
In closing, who can benefit from this book? Certainly any practicing Jew or Christian. Absolutely any Jew or Christian who is struggling with their faith. Any agnostic who is truly only uncertain becasuse he/she has not read anything compelling enough for him/her to say, “I can believe that”. An atheist who is open to debate, and would like to hear a fair, learned man’s point of view. Finally, anyone would like to read something that can only be described as an excellent perspective on a section of a book over 2000 years and why it’s still a great, if not THE BEST, source of wisdom for human behavior.
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