For the Love of God

"The perfect antidote to fundamentalist readings of the Bible, For the Love of God artfully conveys the multiple meanings that can be gleaned from biblical texts"

~Judith Plaskow, author of Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective

"No one who reads this amazing, brilliantly written book will ever read the Bible the same way again."

~Elaine Pagels, professor of religion, Princeton University

"Against popular misconceptions of the Bible as a 'book' that is the dependable repository of supposedly biblical values, Alicia Ostriker vividly unfolds the strong and at times startling differences of outlook of different biblical texts. She writes with the sensitivity of a poet, unafraid to argue with Scripture yet keenly responsive to what there is to discover in it."

~Robert Alter, editor of The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary

"In For the Love of God: The Bible as an Open Book, Alicia Ostriker tears away the encrusted interpretations of the Hebrew Bible and reveals new ones that restore its mythic power and vision."

~Howard Schwartz, author of Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism

"Think wrestler. Revise to Jewish wrestler. Revise again to Jewish Woman Wrestler. Revise a third time to Jewish Woman Wrestling with God. You're thinking about Alicia Ostriker in For the Love of God. Now stop thinking and read."

~Jack Miles, author of God: A Biography

"Through prose that is deeply poetic and critically compelling, in For the Love of God Alicia Suskin Ostriker takes quite seriously the Talmudic assertion that 'there is always another interpretation' . . . offering provocative and insightful re-interpretations of six fundamental biblical texts. Much of Ostriker's work speaks to what she interprets as our own contemporary needs, specifically our collective desire for peace, and this book is no exception."

~Shofar

"Ostriker's work is at once challenging and inspiring, revisionary and reverent. Her insights and commentaries are both inspiring and shocking, insightful and aphoristic. And, although one can either love or hate her interpretations, one cannot miss her sincere desire to see into the truth of the text."

~Religion