The Biblical View of Man

The Biblical View of Man argues cogently that the Bible is more about human beings than about God, and insists that in the biblical view, what human beings need is not so much wisdom or grace but rather their own free will to fulfill the obligations that a loving God has bestowed upon them in order to allow them to prove and improve themselves. While Plato thought no man who knew what was right could do wrong, and Paul thought that no man, even if he knew what was right, could do it without the help of divine grace, the Bible -- so argues Leo Adler -- is realistic enough to know that people can sin knowingly, but also optimistic enough to teach that God has given them both the choice and the ability to do right. According to Adler, the exercise of such free will requires a firm commitment to God: "The Bible's recognition of the inner uncertainty of man's being makes the divine a necessity, pure belief in God something taken for granted, and faithfulness to God the highest human virtue." The Biblical View of Man was originally published in German by Ernst Reinhardt Verlag in 1965, and appears now in English for the first time.