Bondage of the Mind by R. d. Gold (2008, Hardcover)

R. D. Gold’s Bondage of the Mind is, I believe, a quite accurate and very readable account of the findings and conclusions of recent Biblical scholars and secular Levant archeologists relevant to the world existing in Biblical times. Also Biblical predictions and promises are correlated with subsequent occurrences. With these it contrasts certain contra assertions that historically evolved and that led to traditional understandings, accounts and verities still held by Jewish/Christian Fundamentalists. His data, arguments and sources seem logical, reasonable and intuitively correct. A Fundamentalist having accepted Biblical accuracy as not contestable best read Bondage looking for counterexamples or internal inconsistencies; it will be a non-trivial task. Individuals still trying to merge faith and reason will find more reinforcements for their logical, reasonable and intuitive decisions; although faith itself is not a target in this book. A Materialist will be delighted with the well-documented findings and logical conclusions. Gold makes explicit the terrible price paid by the Fundamentalist (and secondarily his/her fellow world travelers) when perceived certainties ‘bind’ the mind to diminish existential perceptions of aloneness, death and suffering. One wishes Gold could say more about what is given up and how to accommodate its absence with the minds release from bondage. But then that is not what this book is about, it is about Freedom. A better and timelier discussion of Freedom I have never read. W. Paul Mouchon