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The Evolution of God

Robert Wright

Discussion: 2009-Jul-Aug-Sep

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2009-Jul-Aug-Sep

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* September 2009
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 4 views

last updated Nov 29, 2010 12:28AM

* August 2009
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 5 views

last updated Nov 29, 2010 12:19AM

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Aug 30, 2011 Russell Smith rated it really liked it

The title of this book accurately describes the book's thesis - how the "idea" of "God" has evolved over time. To a fundamentalist believer, such an inquiry will seem blasphemous, while to an atheist this theme will seem banal. This book is written for those in between those two poles, who want to know if religion has, and/or can in the future, play a part in advancing the human race.

In order to answer this question, Wright surveys the history of various religious traditions, from the "primitive The title of this book accurately describes the book's thesis - how the "idea" of "God" has evolved over time. To a fundamentalist believer, such an inquiry will seem blasphemous, while to an atheist this theme will seem banal. This book is written for those in between those two poles, who want to know if religion has, and/or can in the future, play a part in advancing the human race.

In order to answer this question, Wright surveys the history of various religious traditions, from the "primitive" gods of hunter-gatherer societies, through the more sophisticated gods of chiefdoms and early city-states, culminating in the three great Abrahamic, monotheistic faiths we know today. In so doing, Wright observes an expanding "moral imagination" on the part of human beings, evidenced by and aided by various religious traditions. The book does not discuss, except in fleeting moments, eastern religions. This is, for the most part, a book about Judaism, Christianity and Islam only.

Most interesting to me was Wright's description of how "primitive" the God of the Bible was throughout much of the history of Judaism. Indeed, it would be incorrect to even use the singular form of god, as the early Israelites were, almost certainly, polytheists. That much of the Bible was written by polytheists came as a revelation to me, although judging by this book's massive bibliography much has been written about this already. There are many more interesting insights in this vein throughout the book, and if you find this kind of stuff interesting, stop reading now and buy the book.

The part of the book that left me cold, however, was the notion that the "evolution" of God is somehow evidence that there IS a God. While I do not dispute the idea of God has evolved over time, I think that Wright is too quick to just simply assume that human morality "on the ground" has also evolved. Indeed, Wright believes this so strongly that he believes that such "moral progress" is itself evidence for the existence of a "God." This is where he loses me. I simply do not see such moral progress. For me, the twentieth century was filled with one horrific atrocity after another, notwithstanding the fact that it had more sophisticated gods and religions.

Nevertheless, this book is filled with many interesting and entertaining facts about the Abrahamic religions, as well as many more interesting conjectures about various interpretations of various scriptural passages. It easily meets its primary goal - providing an explanation of God's evolution alongside biological, psychological and cultural evolution. While it fails to leverage this explanation into providing evidence for the existence of God, one cannot criticize any book too harshly for failing to "prove" God exists, since no book has yet to do so to everyone's satisfaction.

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Jul 16, 2010 Tom rated it it was amazing

An excellent account of the history of God as seen from Earth, using the texts and facts we have to follow the path of human religious belief. The bulk of the book is a history book with a unique perspective, the end is an evolutionary philosophy take on God and religious belief as argued through science.

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