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Joe Lieberman/David Klinghoffer Collaboration on the Sabbath Out Today


Today, Howard Press/Simon & Schuster publishes Senator Joe Lieberman’s collaboration with Discovery Institute senior fellow David Klinghoffer, a “love song” to the philosophy, pleasures and practical observance of the traditional Sabbath. The Gift of Rest: Rediscovering the Beauty of the Sabbath uses Lieberman’s unique experience as a United States senator and Orthodox Jewish Sabbath observer to make the case for the Sabbath. It’s not just for Jews anymore!
ENV readers will be interested in the design theme that threads through the book. As David Klinghoffer discusses in this video and in God and Evolution, the Jewish Sabbath’s primary affirmation is that�nature and history bear the stamp of transcendent purpose, that�the universe is the product of purposeful creativity activity, of intelligent design.
Senator Lieberman puts it this way in the book:

  • I know that human existence is seen by some as an accident, the product of blindly churning natural forces, an unguided process without direction or meaning. That viewpoint can leave people without a guiding compass. The Sabbath, in contrast, offers a way to help us focus with hope on eternal truths and values.
  • The Sabbath is our opportunity to reflect on the way God’s creative purpose and design are reflected in the world around us. Meditate on God’s creation of life and nature and the entire cosmos — not as an abstract idea disconnected from our daily reality but as an observable fact.

The book has already scored some nice pre-publication reviews, including from�Publishers Weekly (“deeply sincere and highly readable”), Kirkus, and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (“a surprisingly engaging read — surprisingly because books by politicians fronted by photos where they pose in studied, open-collared casualness are usually a recipe for a surfeit of encomiums packed with feel-goodness but bereft of intellectual nourishment”).
Our friend and Discovery Institute colleague Michael Medved reviews The Gift of Rest in the Washington Times and will have Lieberman on the Medved Show today to talk about the book (2 pm Pacific/5 pm Eastern). Lieberman will be on Sean Hannity’s Fox News Channel show tonight, introducing an intense media launch for the book.

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Evolution News & Science Today (EN) provides original reporting and analysis about evolution, neuroscience, bioethics, intelligent design and other science-related issues, including breaking news about scientific research. It also covers the impact of science on culture and conflicts over free speech and academic freedom in science. Finally, it fact-checks and critiques media coverage of scientific issues.

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