Author: Thomas Römer
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674504976
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 316
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Book Description
Who invented God? When, why, and where? Thomas Römer seeks to answer these questions about the deity of the great monotheisms—Yhwh, God, or Allah—by tracing Israelite beliefs and their context from the Bronze Age to the end of the Old Testament period in the third century BCE. That we can address such enigmatic questions at all may come as a surprise. But as Römer makes clear, a wealth of evidence allows us to piece together a reliable account of the origins and evolution of the god of Israel. Römer draws on a long tradition of historical, philological, and exegetical work and on recent discoveries in archaeology and epigraphy to locate the origins of Yhwh in the early Iron Age, when he emerged somewhere in Edom or in the northwest of the Arabian peninsula as a god of the wilderness and of storms and war. He became the sole god of Israel and Jerusalem in fits and starts as other gods, including the mother goddess Asherah, were gradually sidelined. But it was not until a major catastrophe—the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah—that Israelites came to worship Yhwh as the one god of all, creator of heaven and earth, who nevertheless proclaimed a special relationship with Judaism. A masterpiece of detective work and exposition by one of the world’s leading experts on the Hebrew Bible, The Invention of God casts a clear light on profoundly important questions that are too rarely asked, let alone answered.
Author: Bill Lauritzen
Publisher: Earth360.com
ISBN: 0978754336
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 168
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Book Description
How did mythology and religion first begin? Where did the ideas of “God,” “spirit” and “soul” come from? The author takes us to ancient times, showing us how early humans struggled to make sense of the world around them. Drawing on history, geology, volcanology, anthropology, chemistry, astronomy, archeology, oceanography, biology and cognitive science, the author reveals the surprising true meaning of our most sacred stories. “Bill Lauritzen is some kind of genius.” Sir Arthur C. Clarke. “Anyone interested in science and religion should read this book.” Dr. Elizabeth Loftus, Ph.D., psychologist, UC Irvine. “Bill Lauritzen has systematically analyzed, from an original viewpoint, the historic sources related to the origins of religion. He summarized his research in this interesting and thought-provoking book.” Mamikon Mnatsakanian, Ph.D, astrophysicist and mathematician, California Institute of Technology.
Author: Robert Banks PhD
Publisher: Lion Books
ISBN: 0745959644
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 160
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Book Description
This book addresses one of the oldest questions posed to religious believers: if God made everything, who made God? Most recently levelled by the New Atheists, the question was asked in ancient Greece and has preoccupied religious believers in the centuries since. Here, renowned scholar Robert Banks explores the history of the objection - from its earliest vocalization in the ancient world to its most famous opponents, Freud, Marx, and others. Ideal for anyone with a general interest in new atheism, for those studying religion, or wanting to sort out what (if any) elements of their idea of God are man-made.
Author: Sean McDowell
Publisher: Kregel Publications
ISBN: 0825489652
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 304
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Book Description
Sean McDowell and Jonathan Morrow have penned an accessible yet rigorous look at the arguments of the New Atheists. Writing from a distinctively Christian perspective, McDowell and Morrow lay out the facts so that the emerging generation can make up their own mind after considering all the evidence.
Author: James Cox
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317546032
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 193
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Book Description
Indigenous societies around the world have been historically disparaged by European explorers, colonial officials and Christian missionaries. Nowhere was this more evident than in early descriptions of indigenous religions as savage, primitive, superstitious and fetishistic. Liberal intellectuals, both indigenous and colonial, reacted to this by claiming that, before indigenous peoples ever encountered Europeans, they all believed in a Supreme Being. The Invention of God in Indigenous Societies argues that, by alleging that God can be located at the core of pre-Christian cultures, this claim effectively invents a tradition which only makes sense theologically if God has never left himself without a witness. Examining a range of indigenous religions from North America, Africa and Australasia - the Shona of Zimbabwe, the "Rainbow Spirit Theology" in Australia, the Yupiit of Alaska, and the Māori of New Zealand – the book argues that the interests of indigenous societies are best served by carefully describing their religious beliefs and practices using historical and phenomenological methods – just as would be done in the study of any world religion.
Author: Jan Assmann
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691203199
Category : Bibles
Languages : en
Pages : 412
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Book Description
"The Book of Exodus may be the most consequential story ever told. But its spectacular moments of heaven-sent plagues and parting seas overshadow its true significance, says Jan Assmann, a leading historian of ancient religion. The story of Moses guiding the enslaved children of Israel out of captivity to become God's chosen people is the foundation of an entirely new idea of religion, one that lives on today in many of the world's faiths. The Invention of Religion sheds new light on ancient scriptures to show how Exodus has shaped fundamental understandings of monotheistic practice and belief." --
Author: Philip Dray
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ISBN: 0812968107
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 306
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Book Description
“Dray captures the genius and ingenuity of Franklin’s scientific thinking and then does something even more fascinating: He shows how science shaped his diplomacy, politics, and Enlightenment philosophy.” –Walter Isaacson, author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Today we think of Benjamin Franklin as a founder of American independence who also dabbled in science. But in Franklin’s day, the era of Enlightenment, long before he was an eminent statesman, he was famous for his revolutionary scientific work. Pulitzer Prize finalist Philip Dray uses the evolution of Franklin’s scientific curiosity and empirical thinking as a metaphor for America’s struggle to establish its fundamental values. He recounts how Franklin unlocked one of the greatest natural mysteries of his day, the seemingly unknowable powers of lightning and electricity. Rich in historical detail and based on numerous primary sources, Stealing God’s Thunder is a fascinating original look at one of our most beloved and complex founding fathers.
Author: Thomas Joseph White
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 080286533X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 457
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Book Description
Does all knowledge of God come through Christ alone, or can human beings discover truths about God philosophically? The Analogy of Being assembles essays by expert Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox theologians to examine the relationship between divine revelation in the person of Jesus Christ and the philosophical capacities of natural reason. These essays were inspired by the lively, decades-long debate between Karl Barth and Erich Przywara, which was first sparked in 1932 when Barth wrote that the use of natural theology in Roman Catholic thinking was the invention of the Antichrist. The contributors to The Analogy of Being analyze and reflect on both sides of Barth and Przywara s spirited discourse, offering diverse responses to a controversy reaching to the very core of Christian faith and theology. It would be difficult to match the range and quality of commentators on this historic exchange between a Catholic philosopher and a renowned Reformed theologian on a subject of enduring significance, given the centrality of analogy to any issue in philosophical theology. Moreover, the contributions exhibit how the issues have come to span ecclesial boundaries as their import has progressively evolved. A splendid collection! David Burrell, C.S.C. Uganda Martyrs University A profound testimony to the enduring significance of the analogia entis debate between Erich Przywara and Karl Barth. Hans Boersma Regent College In a fresh ecumenical context, this extraordinary volume rekindles the mid-twentieth-century encounter between ressourcement thinkers and metaphysical theology. The voices of Przywara, Barth, Balthasar, and others speak anew through leading theologians of our own day in these masterfully orchestrated essays. Matthew Levering University of Dayton
Author: Reza Aslan
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0553394738
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 321
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Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of Zealot explores humanity’s quest to make sense of the divine in this concise and fascinating history of our understanding of God. In Zealot, Reza Aslan replaced the staid, well-worn portrayal of Jesus of Nazareth with a startling new image of the man in all his contradictions. In his new book, Aslan takes on a subject even more immense: God, writ large. In layered prose and with thoughtful, accessible scholarship, Aslan narrates the history of religion as a remarkably cohesive attempt to understand the divine by giving it human traits and emotions. According to Aslan, this innate desire to humanize God is hardwired in our brains, making it a central feature of nearly every religious tradition. As Aslan writes, “Whether we are aware of it or not, and regardless of whether we’re believers or not, what the vast majority of us think about when we think about God is a divine version of ourselves.” But this projection is not without consequences. We bestow upon God not just all that is good in human nature—our compassion, our thirst for justice—but all that is bad in it: our greed, our bigotry, our penchant for violence. All these qualities inform our religions, cultures, and governments. More than just a history of our understanding of God, this book is an attempt to get to the root of this humanizing impulse in order to develop a more universal spirituality. Whether you believe in one God, many gods, or no god at all, God: A Human History will challenge the way you think about the divine and its role in our everyday lives. Praise for God “Timely, riveting, enlightening and necessary.”—HuffPost “Tantalizing . . . Driven by [Reza] Aslan’s grace and curiosity, God . . . helps us pan out from our troubled times, while asking us to consider a more expansive view of the divine in contemporary life.”—The Seattle Times “A fascinating exploration of the interaction of our humanity and God.”—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “[Aslan’s] slim, yet ambitious book [is] the story of how humans have created God with a capital G, and it’s thoroughly mind-blowing.”—Los Angeles Review of Books “Aslan is a born storyteller, and there is much to enjoy in this intelligent survey.”—San Francisco Chronicle
Author: Karen Armstrong
Publisher: Gramercy
ISBN: 9780517223123
Category : God
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
A study of the deity of the world's three dominant monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In a dynamic interplay between religion and society's ever-changing beliefs, values, and traditions, human beings' ideas about God have been transformed. Ideas about God have been molded to apply to the spiritual needs of the people who worship him in a particular place and time. The author explores and analyzes the development and progression of the various perceptions of God from the days of Abraham to present times--Adapted from book jacket.
