Josiah has a tremendous reputation in the text. He rediscovered the Book of the Law; you remember how Hilkiah the High Priest somehow found it [2 Kings 22:8].

Just as despair can come to one only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings.

There is no word in Hebrew for religion, by the way.

The opposite of faith is not heresy but indifference

"Am I my brother's keeper?" There you have the whole Biblical understanding that you are your brother's keeper. You also have a whole other understanding in which you are not your brother's keeper. And I've heard some extremely bright people take this position.

What would the future of man be if it were devoid of memory?

To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.