ENDEAVOUR FORUM NEWSLETTER No. 136, OCTOBER 2009

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“Perspectives on The Noahide Laws - Universal Ethics: Monographs in Judaism & Civilization” by Rabbi Dr. Shimon Dovid Cowen. $22.00 plus postage $1.65. Published by The Institute for Judaism & Civilization Inc., 88 Hotham St., East St. Kilda, Vic. 3183. Reviewed by John Morrissey, writer and teacher (English, History & Religious Education).

It will come as a surprise for many of us that the substance of the Ten Commandments was already apprehended by mankind long before Moses’ reception of the Law at Sinai, and even before the beginning of the Jewish tradition with Abraham. The seven Noahide Laws, moral prohibitions against idolatry, blasphemy, forbidden sexual relationships, theft, murder, lawlessness and cruelty to living creatures, can be found in the early chapters of Genesis.

As Rabbi Cowen puts it, ‘Adam, Noah and the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, it appears, could perceive the Divine will, and even “learn” Torah before it had been given. It took Moses, the greatest of the prophets, to receive the law and communicate it concretely to humanity.’

It should not be surprising to Christians, in view of the words of St Paul, ‘For when the Gentiles, who have not the law, do by nature those things that are of the law; these having not the law [of Moses], are a law to themselves: who shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness to them’ (Romans 2:14-15). The concept of the natural law is that it is intrinsic to humanity, made in the image of God (Genesis 1: 26-27).

In this slim work, Rabbi Dr Shimon Cowen expounds the Noahide Law, defends it as an objective rather than subjective concept, and examines it in the contexts of theology, philosophy, psychology and socio-politics. He draws on the writings of learned scholars from past and present, ranging from the revered C12th rabbi Maimonides to the famous C20th psychotherapist Viktor Frankl.

Maimonides to the famous C20th psychotherapist Viktor Frankl. To objections from secular-modern quarters that recognition of universal law is a denial of personal autonomy, the writer argues that true freedom is not from constraint but the freedom to actualise Divine laws, that is, to submit or bind oneself back [re-ligio] to a higher responsibility.

As in our debates with the secular voices today, philosophers in the past, such as Max Weber and Bertrand Russell, have denied the objectivity of religious values alongside rationality and science. Their arguments against the existence of G-d [as pious Jews render the name] place the Divine inside the framework of time, space and causality, and subject the question to scientific tests. If we place G-d outside this framework, as the transcendent Creator, then these arguments have no relevance.

Rabbi Cowen also explains that the denial of objective transcendent reality is a false certainty, for the soul, formed in the likeness of the Divine, has a native spiritual resonance which is expressed in the common root spirituality found in different cultures, which can be neither proved nor disproved rationally. He maintains that this intuition is not in competition with analytical reasoning, but that the two co-exist on different planes of reality.

Thus belief accesses not only the Divine source of creation, but the Divine attributes, which are translated into commandments – the Noahide laws in particular – and provide a spiritual template of Divinely-ordered values. Here Rabbi Cowen draws on Maimonides to explain how rationality becomes spiritually oriented by recognising the peace and harmony to which it aspires, which in fact equates with the ideal of a ‘Mean’ in Aristotle.

When the writer applies these values to human conduct, he begins with the whole person, whose intellect and body function as a composite identity, which in a human being means that there is some control over impulse or instinct. He sees three levels here: inability to control impulse, the ability to delay its gratification, and complete control.

From here we proceed to the private domain, free from infringement by others, and involving only personal integrity, but in religious terms still responsible before G-d. This disposes of the “mature, consenting partners” and “no victim” rationale for even aberrant sexual relationships.

In the interpersonal domain, Creation exists for the sake of human beings, not for domination, but cultivation and ultimately redemptive transformation. Thus society is characterised by co-operation and mutual regard, rather than the individual private lives of human beings, and Christians will recognise in this the Kingdom (on earth) advocated in the Gospels.

Rabbi Cowen looks at the seven laws and shows how they are applied to the natural self, as in the prohibition of cruelty to animals; the personal realm, as in sexual morality and the prohibition of idolatry and blasphemy; and the interpersonal realm, as in the prohibition of theft, injustice and murder. For example, the Biblical prescription for the unit of man and woman as halves of one body and one soul prohibits under the Noahide Laws adultery, incest and bestiality. Again, in murder we find that body and mind, united in the concept of life, have come together to negate life, which is a blasphemy against the life principle.

These areas are elaborated in a later chapter, introduced as the ‘social matrix’ of the Noahide Laws, where the writer, among other things, looks at their prohibition of abortion and euthanasia, although his use of the term “passive euthanasia” is to be regretted, as it is a slippery term often employed to confuse the debate.

A final section is devoted to the state and world society. It is addressed to the American context, but is particularly valuable in examining such areas as private and public morality, the authority of the law, plurality and neutrality, and the separation of religion and state. Of the latter, the US First Amendment, Rabbi Cowen observes that where the state permits behaviours such as adultery and homosexual marriage it becomes a moral educator by condoning, and where a state disallows prayer in public schools it has a normative effect – contrary to the Noahide Laws. He then proceeds to cite a number of historic documents to establish religion as intrinsic to American society, concluding with this 1991 Congressional Resolution:

“these ethical values and principles have been the bedrock of society from the dawn of civilization, when they were known as the Seven Noahide Laws”.

Jews and Christians alike will find “Perspectives on the Noahide Laws” a challenging but rewarding text. Readers might find it useful to read each chapter, and reflect on it before continuing, for it is important to understand the significance of what Rabbi Cowen is conveying, and to make the connections for ourselves.

Rabbi Dr. Shimon Dovid Cowen, Director, Institute for Judaism & Civilization

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