Wrestling with Angels: What Genesis Teaches Us about Our Spiritual Identity, Sexuality and Personal Relationships - Paperback

by Naomi H. Rosenblatt (Author), Joshua Horwitz (Author)

Wrestling with Angels

For over twenty years, psychotherapist, lecturer, and Bible teacher Naomi H. Rosenblatt has been leading some of the nation's best and brightest minds through the Bible, from Wall Street boardrooms to weekly sessions in the U.S. Congress, in what William Safire has called "the best Bible class for the layman." Drawing upon insights into human nature gleaned from decades of private practice and a lifelong study of the Bible, she sifts through the Bible's epic stories, filled with vivid characters in dramatic circumstances, to show how the lessons of their lives empower us today as parents, spouses, businesspeople, citizens, and lovers.

In Wrestling with Angels, she and her co-author Joshua Horwitz retell and interpret the multigenerational saga of the first family of the Bible, showing how their all-too-human struggles are decidedly relevant to the issues confronting us today.

The Bible? Relevant today? Many readers will be surprised by how truly relevant the Book of Genesis is. It discusses, among other things, the first recorded case of sexual harassment; surrogate parenting and the problems it raises; siblings battling over the love of a parent; rape and its consequences; and vigilante justice. The issues faced by Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, and their descendants are remarkably similar to those that arise in all of our lives, including:
The strenuous demands of adulthood
The challenges of faith
The joys of sexuality
The nature of leadership and heroism
The responsibilities of parenting
The role of values in building character
The empowerment of a spiritual identity

In this extraordinary book of timeless and profound wisdom, Naomi Rosenblatt invites both Christians and Jews to revisit our common spiritual heritage: "For the humanist, the religious, the agnostic, or the merely inquisitive, Wrestling with Angels is an open invitation to probe the mystery, the miracle, and the drama of adult life in an imperfect world."

A book to be read again and again, Wrestling with Angels is a poignant and pragmatic guide to the bestselling self-help book of all time.

Author Biography

Naomi H. Rosenblatt is a psychotherapist, lecturer, and adult Bible class teacher. She teaches several popular Bible classes in New York and Washington, including a weekly class held at the Capitol building and attended by U.S. senators from both sides of the aisle. She lectures regularly on ethics and contemporary Bible themes, and her Bible classes have been the subject of numerous newspaper and magazine articles. She earned a master's degree in clinical social work from Catholic University and has a private psychotherapy practice in Washington, D.C.

Joshua Horwitz, a student of Naomi Rosenblatt's since 1978, is a writer and publisher. He has produced award-winning documentaries for PBS, written screenplays and teleplays, and is the author of several children's and young adult books. He is also the co-founder and president of Living Planet Press.