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Title: God : A Biography
ISBN: 155935240X
Author:
Jack Miles
Publicate Date: 1996-08
Publish: 1996-08
List Price: $16.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Audio Cassette
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $11.49
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $8.65
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Literary view of the Jewish Bible
First, of all, ignore the title intended to sell books and not particularly describe what's inside. Secondly, this is a reminder that this is exclusively about the Jewish Bible, the Christian Old Testament in a different order.
What the author means by biography is essentially God as a literary character, which means the author has to focus on how we can understand the character. The only real way is to look at how God interacts with humanity. This is a similar eventual approach that other authors have ended up with, but typically not starting with the literary angle. The author goes through all the books (scrolls), and has a focus on how God changes his interaction patterns from book to book and within books. The author steers a fairly neutral path, as neutral as one can get dealing with biblical interpretation, though he has favorite books (Genesis, Job) and leans some on others' postmodern historical criticism. Well worth reading, though a tad dense and not completely original.
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2: Read this book!
I concur with most of what has already been said in the other 5-star reviews. Read it! It will changoe the way you think about the God of the old testament.
PS- The people who gave it 1-star reviews are SCARY
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3: A provocative view of God
This was an interesting book which presents the reader with some challenging views of God. In many ways the author is clearly misguided. However, he does present view that most would have never considered and establishes doctorinal thought of God that is Biblical. Again it is a radical and thought provoking view of God.
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4: An eyeopening novel view of God
Jack Miles writes a novel work in God: A Biography. While I read this book for a class, I was originally worried that its common, humanlike portrayal of God would be offensive to my formatively conservative sensibility, yet to my surprise, Miles has written a readable, though meaty, portrayal of God in the Tanakh. God, as he is protrayed in this text has human attributes commonly disavowed in typical Western theology. Each chapter, associated with an Hebrew Bible book focuses on the personality of God and his evolution, if you will, in each of the major narratives. In one of the more notable sections, Miles asks the question Does God Love? In this interlude he contends that "love has never been a predicated of him either as an action or as a motive" (237). The hesed that God is consistenly said to have refers more to loyalty as opposed to love, until 2nd Isaiah, when the juxtaposition of husband(God) and wife (God's people)reveal a changed face of God- his love and compasssion. This text consistently breaks ground in the mind of the reader by revealing God in a fresh, yet scholarly manner. This book is a must read for anyone who is interested in being introduced to God from an "out of the box" perspective that allows for human attributes and reactions.
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5: Read This Book
"God: A Biography" is a highly rewarding work of significant literary value. Readers are likely to find this to be impossible to read hastily because of its sophistication and the clarity of its prose which takes a painstakingly thoughtful look at what the Old Testament says about God. This is the sort of book that will make you run to your Bible wondering why you have not taken a closer look at books like Numbers and Kings just for the sheer pleasure of it. I am currently using this book in my church in order to introduce new Christians to the Old Testament so that they can read it in a way that is fresh and open to surprise at God's personal nature and the complexity of his character. Interestingly, this book can be useful for preaching in that it raises interesting questions about the Bible and God that many pastors may not imagine their congregants have. Further, even those with merely a literary interest in religious texts will find that Miles may cause a shift in the assumptions made about the Old Testament.
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