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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
A very thoughtful and necessary history of the idea of "God" in monotheism! Not without bias (but I appreciated the obviousness of the bias, so it was easier to analyze/disagree with), and sometimes simplifying very complicated movements (usually necessarily for the sake of time), but a very enjoyable and enlightening read.
Content Warnings
Addresses religious movements that have caused harm, mostly very generally without graphic content. The only truly hard moment was a short detail of an event during the Holocaust which involved a child, but it passes very quickly.
challenging
informative
slow-paced
Very informative book on how the three main monotheistic religions have changed over time in response to each other / world events / social change etc.
Formal, academic writing style makes it a little harder / slower to get through but worth the effort
Formal, academic writing style makes it a little harder / slower to get through but worth the effort
Very dry and I found it hard to concentrate. While it seems well written the subject matter didn't really grab me.
Came into it expecting a informative intellectual history of theology. Came away with the impression that it was more of a well researched editorial about the author's ideals of religion. Which is not bad, but not ideal. Also, as an Orthodox Jew, I noticed her assessments of Jewish Theology, while accurate to a point, often painted an overly simplistic picture. For example, her picture of the Rabbis of the Talmud as tolerant aesthetes ignores strands of asceticism that do exist scattered through the Talmud, as well as various condemnations of heretical beliefs. While that is to be expected in a book that does not claim to be exhaustive, I remain worried that the other belief systems I am unfamiliar with (hence my reading of the book) were portrayed in a similar, overly simplistic light. However, she does a good job at making hard concepts easily understood, and for those looking for a very surface view of the history of theology, I would recommend this as the best I've read so far.
Did not have the baseline level of knowledge required to understand a lot of what was being said — found what I understood interesting though
Oh, this was a great book! It was very informative on the development of the idea of god and religions. It addresses the human condition and need to religion with compassion and consider spirituality part of humanity such as art. This soft approach to faith without the approval of any fundamentalism helped me to understand how I suppressed my needs and feelings on spirituality in the name of logic with a very literal understanding of religions.
challenging
informative
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
Just felt like ranting rather than explanation of history and fact.
Well I feel some sense of personal satisfaction in finishing this 'History of God' in under 500 pages. Unlike the blurb which promised 'a splendidly readable book' I found it hard going. It is rather dry and academic for an armchair theologian but not necessarily detailed enough to withstand the criticism of religious intellectuals. Although she does have a number of footnotes she is also prone to making sweeping statements, often denigrating a person or thought, with no evidence to back her up. She manages to completely smear Martin Luther in one sentence, for example, and makes pretty short work of Jesus and his immediate followers.
I did find some of the writing interesting, especially when contrasting Western and Eastern approaches. She also makes a number of erudite remarks about how wrestling with religious truths can affect mental health and how damaging fundamentalism can be.
I also found myself interested in the contrasts between views of a 'Personal' God and more mystical approaches. The question of Suffering is another thorny issue that has been discussed for centuries and it was fascinating to see how different people or cultures came across their conclusions.
I found the final chapter 'Has God a future?' more of a list of negatives than positives.
This book is 20 years old and I expect the author will have further thoughts to share in her more recent books, but I don't think I will have the energy for another for a while.
I did find some of the writing interesting, especially when contrasting Western and Eastern approaches. She also makes a number of erudite remarks about how wrestling with religious truths can affect mental health and how damaging fundamentalism can be.
I also found myself interested in the contrasts between views of a 'Personal' God and more mystical approaches. The question of Suffering is another thorny issue that has been discussed for centuries and it was fascinating to see how different people or cultures came across their conclusions.
I found the final chapter 'Has God a future?' more of a list of negatives than positives.
This book is 20 years old and I expect the author will have further thoughts to share in her more recent books, but I don't think I will have the energy for another for a while.