Is God Just a Human Invention?
Title | Is God Just a Human Invention? PDF eBook |
Author | Sean McDowell |
Publisher | Kregel Publications |
Pages | 304 |
Release | 2011-03-24 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 0825489652 |
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.
And Man Created God
Title | And Man Created God PDF eBook |
Author | Robert Banks PhD |
Publisher | Lion Books |
Pages | 160 |
Release | 2011-04-06 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 0745959644 |
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.
God
Title | God PDF eBook |
Author | Reza Aslan |
Publisher | Random House |
Pages | 321 |
Release | 2017-11-07 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 0553394738 |
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
The Christian Invention of Time
Title | The Christian Invention of Time PDF eBook |
Author | Simon Goldhill |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Pages | 517 |
Release | 2022-02-03 |
Genre | Literary Criticism |
ISBN | 1009080830 |
Time is integral to human culture. Over the last two centuries people's relationship with time has been transformed through industrialisation, trade and technology. But the first such life-changing transformation – under Christianity's influence – happened in late antiquity. It was then that time began to be conceptualised in new ways, with discussion of eternity, life after death and the end of days. Individuals also began to experience time differently: from the seven-day week to the order of daily prayer and the festal calendar of Christmas and Easter. With trademark flair and versatility, world-renowned classicist Simon Goldhill uncovers this change in thinking. He explores how it took shape in the literary writing of late antiquity and how it resonates even today. His bold new cultural history will appeal to scholars and students of classics, cultural history, literary studies, and early Christianity alike.
The Invention of God
Title | The Invention of God PDF eBook |
Author | Thomas Römer |
Publisher | Harvard University Press |
Pages | 316 |
Release | 2015-12-14 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 0674504976 |
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.
Questioning the Bible
Title | Questioning the Bible PDF eBook |
Author | Jonathan Morrow |
Publisher | Moody Publishers |
Pages | 246 |
Release | 2014-07-15 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 0802490697 |
The Bible is the most influential book in human history. But what are we supposed to do with it in the 21st century? And even more importantly, can it still be trusted as the Word of God? Confusion and doubt about the Bible are becoming as common inside the church as they are outside. Questions come from all sides: Is the Bible anti-intellectual? Has the biblical text been corrupted over the centuries? Who really chose the books of the Bible and why? Which interpretation of the Bible is correct? Are the gospels full of contradictions? There are an unprecedented number of sophisticated attacks on the origin, credibility, and reliability of the Bible today. Secularism has tried to undercut even the possibility of spiritual or moral knowledge. Skepticism toward institutional religion is at an all-time high. Yet, the Bible claims that truth is knowable and God is actively involved in our world. What are we to do? Pray for wisdom. Think clearly. Pick up your Bible. Read through the 11 major challenges presented in these pages. And be ready.
God, Technology, and the Christian Life
Title | God, Technology, and the Christian Life PDF eBook |
Author | Tony Reinke |
Publisher | Crossway |
Pages | 306 |
Release | 2021-12-09 |
Genre | Technology & Engineering |
ISBN | 1433578301 |
What Does God Think about Technology? From smartphones to self-driving cars to space travel, new technologies can inspire us. But the breakneck pace of change can also frighten us. So how do Christians walk by faith through the innovations of Silicon Valley? And how does God relate to our most powerful innovators? To build a biblical theology of technology, journalist and tech optimist Tony Reinke examines nine key texts from Scripture to show how the world's discoveries are divinely orchestrated. Ultimately, what we believe about God determines how we respond to human invention. With the help of several theologians and inventors throughout history, Reinke dispels twelve common myths in the church and offers fourteen ethical convictions to help Christians live by faith in the age of big tech. Biblical, Informed Look at Technology: Written by the author of 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You and Competing Spectacles: Treasuring Christ in the Media Age Gathers Ideas from Industry Experts and Theologians: Interacts with Christian and non-Christian sources on technology and theology including John Calvin, Herman Bavinck, Wendell Berry, and Elon Musk Educational: Discusses the history and philosophy behind major technological innovations