NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The bestselling author of Zealot and host of Believer 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

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.

This book argues for an integrative dialectic of faith and history. It is a fresh examination of the problem of faith and history. Instead of being a mere liability, it is argued here that the strength of the Christian faith is its historicity. Although modern thought was not always friendly to Christian faith because of its deeply embedded dualism, it raised the critical intellectual issues that Christian theology needed to address. Advancing a more critical understanding of the nature of history than modern thought was generally able to achieve because of its dualistic thinking, this work argues for an integrative dialectic of historical probability and the certainty of faith. "This book gives a comprehensive and fascinating account of the development of the idea of history in correspondence to changing conceptions of the divine reality, from its origin in Ancient Israel and in Greece all the way to the contemporary discussion. It focuses on the rise of critical historical investigation in modern times and on the struggle of modern theology to come to terms with it. It is an important contribution to this discussion. The split between fact and meaning is persuasively identified as a main obstacle and it is shown to be overcome in the reconstruction of history in the light of the eschatological future. Also very helpful is the final chapter on time (space-time) and eternity with its emphasis on Boethius and with its critical remarks on nontrinitarian theistic notions of a personal God." --Wolfhart Pannenberg, University of Munich

Twenty leaders of contemporary Christian thought probe basic ssues of theology, social change and historiography.

The history of Catholicism is the history of Christian faith. Anthony E. Gilles traces its development—from its beginnings in hushed gatherings within the Roman Empire to its current size and influence—in an accessible and enjoyable style. A revised and updated compilation of the history volumes from his best-selling People of God series, this book will help you understand how the Church developed in relation to, or in rebellion against, the larger culture. It details centuries of crucial turning points from the development of apostolic succession to the implementation of the reforms of Vatican II. Complete with maps, timelines and special "focus" sections on important events and issues, this valuable resource belongs in the collection of every student of Church history.

Why does God exist? How have the three dominant monotheistic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—shaped and altered the conception of God? How have these religions influenced each other? In this stunningly intelligent book, Karen Armstrong, one of Britain's foremost commentators on religious affairs, traces the history of how men and women have perceived and experienced God, from the time of Abraham to the present. The epic story begins with the Jews' gradual transformation of pagan idol worship in Babylon into true monotheism—a concept previously unknown in the world. Christianity and Islam both rose on the foundation of this revolutionary idea, but these religions refashioned 'the One God' to suit the social and political needs of their followers. From classical philosophy and medieval mysticism to the Reformation, Karen Armstrong performs the near miracle of distilling the intellectual history of monotheism into one superbly readable volume, destined to take its place as a classic. Praise for History of God “An admirable and impressive work of synthesis that will give insight and satisfaction to thousands of lay readers.”—The Washington Post Book World “A brilliantly lucid, spendidly readable book. [Karen] Armstrong has a dazzling ability: she can take a long and complex subject and reduce it to the fundamentals, without oversimplifying.”—The Sunday Times (London) “Absorbing . . . A lode of learning.”—Time “The most fascinating and learned study of the biggest wild goose chase in history—the quest for God. Karen Armstrong is a genius.”—A.N. Wilson, author of Jesus: A Life