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He has also served as a consultant for the MacArthur Foundation, assisting them in the selection of fellowship recipients for writers and composers.
Target Audience:
This book is written for those interested in a thought-provoking analysis of the character of God, regardless of their faith or religious beliefs. God could conceivably engage in some kind of demonstrative action that would serve his own self-presentation apart from any interaction with man: miraculous displays, cosmic disruptions, the creation of other worlds.
God: A Biography
by Jack Miles
8 popular highlights from this book
Key Insights & Memorable Quotes
Below are the most popular and impactful highlights and quotes from God: A Biography:
The profound originality of a divine-human pact in which both parties complain endlessly about each other has too rarely been acknowledged as such.
Religion [...] may be seen as literature that has succeeded beyond any writer's wildest dreams.
Lord can restore a covenant with Israel and yet continue
Can a literary character be said to live a life from birth to death or otherwise to undergo a development from beginning to end?
But the peculiarity of God’s character does not end there. Yet Christianity and Islam do understand themselves to worship the same being that Israel first worshiped
Polytheistic Greek mythology includes some stories that tell of intervention by Zeus in human affairs but others that tell of Zeus’s life among his fellow gods.
In the Bible, God, being the only god, does not have that second kind of action through which to present himself. There is much to object to in him, and many attempts have been made to improve him.
And yet the writer who first brought monotheism to full formulation and who so clearly felt that this idea was destined to sweep the world was, in point of historical fact, quite correct.
His only way of pursuing an interest in himself is through mankind.
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Amazon reviews: 4.3 out of 5 stars (233 reviews) as of 02/09/2024
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Summary:
God: A Biography by Jack Miles is a Pulitzer Prize-winning book that explores the concept of God by analyzing his portrayal in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament.
Book Genre:
Religious non-fiction, literary analysis
Main Topic:
The book delves into the character of God by examining his actions and attributes as depicted in the Bible, presenting a literary biography of the divine figure.
Key Ideas:
• God’s character can be understood through his actions and interactions with humanity rather than doctrinal or theological interpretations.
• The Bible presents a complex and evolving depiction of God, depicting him both as a distant and transcendent figure as well as a personal and involved deity.
• The image of God as a father figure is prevalent throughout the Bible, but it is challenged by the emphasis on his omnipotence and fierce judgment.
• The concept of God as a literary character invites readers to analyze his motives, emotions, and relationships in a similar way to other literary figures.
Main Parts of the Book:
• Part One: God’s Childhood – Examines the creation story and the early depictions of God in the Hebrew Bible, including his interactions with Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and Noah.
• Part Two: God’s Youth – Focuses on God’s relationship with Abraham and the establishment of the covenant between God and the people of Israel.
• Part Three: God’s Adulthood – Explores the role of God as a lawgiver and a king in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers.
• Part Four: God’s Fatherhood – Analyzes God’s relationship with his people as a parental figure in the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua.
• Part Five: God’s Temptations – Discusses the trials and tribulations of the Israelites and their relationship with God in the books of Judges, Samuel, and Kings.
• Part Six: The Calamity of God – Examines the changes in God’s character and his relationship with humanity in the books of Job, Psalms, and Song of Songs.
• Part Seven: God’s New Covenant – Focuses on the depiction of God in the New Testament, including his role as a loving and forgiving father through the figure of Jesus.
Key Takeaways:
• By analyzing the character and actions of God, we gain a deeper understanding of his nature.
• The Bible presents a complex and multi-faceted portrayal of God, challenging traditional theological interpretations.
• Viewing God as a literary character allows for a more personal and relatable approach to understanding him.
Author’s Background and Qualifications:
Jack Miles is an American author, scholar, and literary critic, with a focus on religion and religious texts.
But if so, we must at least recognize the empirical fact that many human beings, rather than project their own personalities upon gods wholly of their own creation, have chosen to introject - take into themselves - the religious projections of other human personalities.
God is no saint, strange to say.
He holds a PhD in Near Eastern languages from Harvard University and has taught at various universities, including the University of California, Irvine. It is also suitable for those interested in literary criticism and the study of religious texts.
Publisher and First Publication Date:
God: A Biography was first published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1995 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography in 1996.
Amazon reviews: 4.3 out of 5 stars (233 reviews) as of 02/09/2024
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Philosophy
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Not only does he lack any social life among other gods but he also lacks what we might call a private life.The spread of this idea, principally through Christianity and Islam, has not been what he foresaw; and in the diffusion of the idea the Jews have been more often vilified than glorified. But in fact he refrains from all such activity. Or is a literary character-fixed on the pages of a book, trapped forever in the same few words and actions-the very opposite of a living, developing human being?
Philosophers of religion have sometimes claimed that all gods are projections of the human personality, and so it may be.