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- Israel lives!
- Good reading with forceful message
- Good book about an amazing history
- An entertaining romp through 5000 years of Western Civilization
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Jews, God, and History: 2nd Edition
Max I. Dimont
Manufacturer: Signet Classics
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ASIN: 0451529405
Release Date: 2004-06-01 |
Book Description
From ancient Palestine through Europe and Asia, to America and modern Israel, Max I. Dimont shows how the saga of the Jews is interwoven with the story of virtually every nation on earth.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent!.......2007-05-28
This was an excellent book. When I originally picked the book up I wasn't sure what to expect. I wanted more than a general overview of Jewish history. I also wanted something that would help me understand the Middle East conflict better but also provide an objective analysis of it. This book did just that. That is not to say that there weren't parts of the book I found really subjective in its material. The first few chapters dealing with the biblical history of the Jews seemed to be presented in a more cynical light (especially when Jesus Christ was introduced). Likewise the last chapter or two of the book also had a rather subjective tone dispersed through out its discussion of the middle eastern conflict in the last century. The majority of the book however, which discussed Jewish history between their biblical origins and their modern day circumstances, was a very interesting comprehensive analysis. I especially liked the author's ability to differentiate the difference between anti-Jewish sentiments and anti-semitism. I was also encouraged by the author's very objective analysis of circumstances where both Jews and Christians were victims (and more often than not, the Christians made up the majority of such victims). By the end of the book, one as a greater appreciation for the intriguing journey of the Jewish peoples. They are fascinating as a culture, and their ability to survive as such regardless of their home or their conquerors. The book does not deal with any recent middle eastern events given that the author died in the early nineties, but the analysis has definitely motivated me to get more information.
Israel lives!.......2007-03-29
This popular history of the Jewish people succeeds in bringing the four thousand year saga alive for the general reader. The author observes that even though the furniture of the West may be Greek, the house of Western civilization is Jewish. One of the questions examined in this book is: How did the Jewish people survive the disappearance of every civilization in which they lived? The following six eras are discussed in the Preface: the Pagan World, Greco-Roman civilization, Diaspora, Islam, European Middle Ages and the Modern Age. Dimont accepts the psychoanalytic, philosophical and existentialist interpretation of history that holds that ideas motivate mankind and shape history.
Part One: The Portable God, explores the age of paganism, the origin of the Hebrews and of monotheism and the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah, until the coming of the Greeks and the clash of Greek and Hebrew culture. In Part Two: Age Of The Apikorsim, he looks at the survival of Jewish culture and religion under the Greeks, the Roman take-over of the land, the destruction of Jerusalem and the various Jewish revolts until the final banishment from the Holy Land.
Part 3: Moses, Christ and Caesar investigates the birth of Christianity as a Jewish sect, how the religions were separated during the aforementioned wars and revolts and the spread and ultimate triumph of Christianity in Europe. The next section, Invisible World Of The Talmud, explains how Judaism and Jewish identity were preserved in the diaspora by means of Talmudic learning.
In Part 5: Mohammed, Allah and Jehovah, the author covers the rise of Islam and the Arab expansion, the golden era of Jewish scholarship and the end of that period with the Mongol invasion of the Middle East and the Christian reconquest of Spain, whilst the following, The Prince And The Yellow Star, considers the Middle Ages, Crusades, Renaissance and Reformation. It also examines the role of the Jewish people in the feudal age and the origin of Kabalah.
Part 7: On The Horns Of Modern Isms, chronicles the emancipation from the ghetto to the enlightenment when Jews started occupying important positions and became intellectual leaders in Europe. This section looks at Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the United States, Nazism and finally, Zionism and the birth of the State of Israel. In the last part: Cultural Mosaic, Dimont attempts an historical explanation of the incredible survival of this miracle nation.
In his view, the first 2000 years represent that third of the Torah and Talmud which concerns priesthood and sacrifice that preserved the Hebrews from paganism. The second 2000 years had to do with that third of the Torah and Talmud that preserved ethnic identity through ritual while spreading Biblical ideas of humanism. He speculates that the last one third now remains, that part that deals with universal concepts of justice, morality and ethics.
There is an extensive bibliography divided into various sections and an index. Although here and there certain observations in the text have become a little outdated since publication, Jews, God and History remains a magisterial work and a gripping read inhabited by fascinating ideas, personalities, events and historical facts. The style is engaging and accessible throughout. I also recommend A History Of The Jews by Paul Johnson and WorldPerfect by Ken Spiro.
A History of the Jews
WorldPerfect: The Jewish Impact on Civilization
Standing With Israel
Your People Shall Be My People
Epicenter: Why current rumblings in the middle east will change your future
The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the Future of the Holy City
Good reading with forceful message.......2006-12-18
This is a good (entertaining in parts) history. It is a passionate book. However, it was first published in 1962 and it hasn't aged well in the company of modern Jewish historiography. Dimont tends to make connections between events and draw inferences which, in the absence of footnotes, sometimes appear as almost wild generalisations. Often he pounces on one or two people or events as encompassing a totality of explanations for hisotrical trends. For example, the influence of Alfred Rosenberg on the Nazis is undoubtedly exaggerated in the book. The book lacks the socio-political sophistication of modern works but, allowing for the cold war context after WWII, it is still worth reading with some reservations.
Good book about an amazing history.......2006-10-24
Can't add much more to the reviews except my own experience with it. I read this book 10 or more years ago, but I remember vividly how well it explained Jewish history, and to a large degree, our world today. I heard it recommended by a preacher and found it for about a dollar at a used book store. It really opened my eyes.
The author seemed to be very level-headed, i.e. he had no bones to pick, no political motive, no desire to influence anybody for any reason. It is an entertaining as well as very instructive book. It is very well written and easy to read, in fact, I remember reading about half the book at my first sitting, which is remarkable for me because I am a very slow reader.
Based on my limited experience, it is one of the best, most readable books on the subject you will find.
An entertaining romp through 5000 years of Western Civilization.......2006-04-03
Jews, God and History is a sobering but very entertaining romp through 5000 years of Western Civilization, which as Dimont so carefully points out, is in many essential respects, the invention of Jews.
This is the way history should be written -- sweepingly, across vast stretches of time but balanced, unsentimental, with a flair for the comedic, and as factual as one can expect given the span of time. While Tom Cahill's "The Gift of the Jews" was a delicious somewhat scatological romp, this is robust, equally readable and entertaining history.
The crux of the story is that time-and-again it has been ideas that have saved Jews from total destruction. With great skill and efficiency, Dimont chronicles most of these attempts at destruction -- demonstrating that at each turn, it has been ideas rather than guns or military might that has saved the Jews. The most important of ideas was the Jewish invention of a single god in the mind (monotheism).
By inventing a transportable, unitary spiritually-based (as opposed to idol-based multiple) gods -- Jews were able to get in on the ground floor of the "God franchise."
Their version of a single spiritual personal "god in the mind," undermined (at the same time that it added coherence and stability to) the previous fragmented system of ritual, sacrifice and the idol worship of multiple gods. By replacing this unwieldy and corrupt system with a unitary, internalized and personalized, but mostly imaginary god, Jews were able to export their ideas to friend and foes alike.
"The Word" of this mostly imaginary god could then be canonized and codified into a book (the bible, Torah, Talmud, etc.) and elevated to the level of law. Once perceived as law, the "word of God" served as the final arbiter of man's moral life. As law, it could then be delegated and spread by God's appointed lieutenants, the prophets.
This colonization of the idea of God, swept across the Western and most of the Eastern world and still serves as the primary underpinning of both the Christian and Islamic religions. What the Jews did in effect was to franchise the idea of a single god, making religion a top-down tool for managing man's moral life. It was a stunning achievement and a quantum improvement over everything that had preceded it.
The hidden bonus of the book however is not just that it is a good story told by a good writer and historian, but also that Max Dimont is a skilled and uncompromising Social Scientist who does not apologize for it. He is equally facile in Existential Philosophy, Freudian Psychology, Economics, Political Science, and modern and classical Anthropology. They all seep through and immeasurably enrich this incredible human drama.
As but one interesting aside, it is instructive to note that Dimont confirms Freud's suspicion in his (Freud's) last book "Moses and Monotheism:" that Moses was indeed an Egyptian Prince, rather than a Jew. Dimont's reaction however, is a measured but laconic "so what?" The point is that whatever ethnicity he was in fact, Moses chose Jewish ethnicity as the vehicle through which to disseminate his ideas about god.
A great book. Five Stars.
Book Description
This provocative volume explores the origins of the Jewish doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. Jon D. Levenson argues that, contrary to a very widespread misconception, the ancient rabbis were keenly committed to the belief that at the end of time, God would restore the deserving dead to life. In fact, Levenson points out, the rabbis saw the Hebrew Bible itself as committed to that idea.
The author meticulously traces the belief in resurrection backward from its undoubted attestations in rabbinic literature and in the Book of Daniel, showing where the belief stands in continuity with earlier Israelite culture and where it departs from that culture. Focusing on the biblical roots of resurrection, Levenson challenges the notion that it was a foreign import into Judaism, and in the process he develops a neglected continuity between Judaism and Christianity. His book will shake the thinking of scholars and lay readers alike, revising the way we understand the history of Jewish ideas about life, death, and the destiny of the Jewish people.
Customer Reviews:
Rethinking Resurrection.......2007-02-17
Levenson challenges the standard opinion of scholarship, which holds that the notion of bodily resurrection is a late development within Judaism supported only briefly by the early rabbis who employed methods of biblical interpretation at odds with modern scientific criticisms. By examining concepts such as ancestral lineage, family name, Sheol, and key biblical texts, Levenson convincingly demonstrates that the concept of resurrection developed over a long course of time from Judaism's roots,and by neglecting the concept in recent centuries Judaism has missed out on one of it's own treasured tenets of hope. Rarely does a book turn scholarship on its head as this one does -- a must read for Jewish and Christian scriptural, historical, and theological scholars.
Customer Reviews:
A manual for humanistic Judaism.......2005-10-02
A simple, straight forward presentation of Humanistic Judaism, with cultural and historical informtion about Jewish customs and holidays. It is especially useful in sorting out what's worth keeping, and what's not, for those who don't believe in god but want to stay Jewish.
Like I said before -- Jewshness is BOTH culture and religion.......2005-01-08
I'm giving this book five stars, NOT because I agree with its theology (I most certainly do NOT - I myself am a religious Jew) but because it is well-written and thought provoking in its own genre. Judith Seid is a "cultural Jew," that is, a Jew who relates to the history, music, art, customs and traditions of Judaism in a secular way, but who does not believe in God or "the religion." Her book explores non-theistic ways that cultural Jews can connect with their heritage. (Isaac Asimov would have loved this book -- he was just such a cultural Jew.)
Much of this book is way too secular for my own tastes, but the author does raise some challenging questions about Jewish history, liturgy, and traditions that made me stop and think. She has also clearly demonstrated what I have been saying for years, namely, that Jewishness is more than just a "religion." This book clearly explains that POV.
Although Judaism is commonly defined as a religion, the Hebrew language does not have a separate word for "religion." Neither does Yiddish -- the closest you can come is "Yiddishkeit," which simply means "Jewishness" and encompasses everything from liturgy to foods and music.
I myself define Jews as a tribal culture in the anthropological sense: common language (Hebrew), common land of origin (Israel), common ancestor story (Abraham and Sarah), common foods and holidays, and common religion. (Seid does not use this exact breakdown in her book, but her ideas are compatible with the tribal model.) A secular Jew may reject "the religion," but still deeply connect with the other aspects of Jewish culture, in the same way that a Native tribal person might remain connected with their language, foods, dances and ceremonies, even if they do not believe in the tribe's mythology.
Much of this book focuses on how to re-define Jewish holidays and life-cycle events in non-theistic ways. There is a strong emphasis on connecting with the tradition through land and nature. The holidays themselves are labeled according to the seasons in the Contents, and the observances she suggests are centered around such activities as growing your own horseradish for the Passover Seder, feeding the homeless during Sukkot, seeking introspective solitude with nature on Yom Kippur, tasting fruits on Tu B'Shevat, etc. There are lots practical suggestions and resources, too, including recipes and websites that I found useful even though I'm not a secularist. (One site, for example, told me where to get pre-fab hardware for erecting a sukkah with 2 x 4s.)
This book is more than mere "lox and bagels Judaism." Seid has given a lot of serious thought to her presentation and, whether or not you can accept her point(s) of view, it is clear that she is fully committed to her Jewish identity. I recommend this book to anyone -- Jewish or not -- who would like to understand why being Jewish is so much more that a "faith" or "religion."
A fascinating perspective on secular Judaism.......2001-06-23
"God-Optional Judaism," by Judith Seid, is an intriguing book that offers an answer to the question: Do you have to believe in God to be a practicing Jew? Seid says "No."
Seid explores the notion of secular Judaism: a way of life, or a cultural and ethical path, that is liberated from traditional notions of deity. You can be an agnostic or an atheist and still practice a meaningful form of Judaism, according to Seid. She offers suggestions for those interested in starting a secular Jewish congregation, and includes an informative "question-and-answer" section in the book.
Seid's book is well-written and thought provoking. Although she is writing from a Jewish perspective, I believe that many of her ideas could be equally useful to people of other faith traditions (Christian, Muslim, etc.).
Rediscovering Judaism.......2001-06-21
God-optional Judaism by Judith Seid (isbn 0-80652190-2)
Judith Seid has the enormous gift of writing simply and clearly about complicated issues. In one slender volume she manages to summarize the history of Jewish belief systems down to present times, and discuss the various approaches of each system to traditional holiday celebrations and life cycle observances. Despite having had a lifetime of Jewish education hardly a page went by in which I did not discover a new insight. But for me, two other features of this book make it invaluable. First, it is fair minded and inclusive. Seid is not out to convert so much as to inform. Without getting bogged down with the myriad details of Jewish observance she succinctly clarifies the choices available to someone interested in modern Judaism. Equally important she elucidates the historical validity of these choices, demythologizing the claims of "authenticity" or superiority posed by some. You decide what fits you, within established, centuries-old alternatives. What brings all this home is her frequent use of anecdotes culled from her pastoral experience, poignant examples of the questions so many of us confront in examining our beliefs. My one criticism may seem like a quibble. She appears to be saying that secular spirituality is confined to social interaction, even though in other sections it is clear that she does not define spirituality in such narrow terms. This book is essential reading for those people who wonder about Judaism and/or its relevance for their own lives.
Book Description
Following up on his two recent, widely acclaimed studies of the history and social life of ancient Israel, William Dever here uses archaeological and biblical evidence to reconstruct the folk religion of ancient Israel. Did God Have a Wife? shines new light on the presence and influence of women's cults in early Israel and their implications for our understanding of the official "religion of the book." Dever pays particular attention to presences of the goddess Asherah, reviled by the authors of the Hebrew Bible as a foreign deity but considered by many modern scholars to have been popularly envisioned as the consort of biblical Yahweh.
The first book by an archaeologist on ancient Israelite religion, this fascinating study critically reviews virtually all of the archaeological literature of the past generation, and it brings fresh evidence to the table as well. While Dever digs deep into the past — revealing insights are found, for example, in the form of local and family shrines where sacrifices and other rituals were performed — his discussion is extensively illustrated and communicated in non-technical language accessible to everyone.
Dever calls his book "a feminist manifesto — by a man," and his work gives a new prominence to women as the custodians of Israel's folk religion. Though the monotheistic faith and practice recounted in the Bible likely held sway among educated, elite men in Jerusalem, the heart and soul of Israelite religion was polytheistic, concerned with meeting practical needs, and centered in the homes of common, illiterate people.
Even more popularly written than Dever's two previous books, Did God Have a Wife? is sure to spur wide, even passionate, debate in all quarters.
Customer Reviews:
A Strident Scholar .......2007-07-25
Dever cannot be confused with a humble scholar/archaeologist. A large chunk of this book is devoted to cutting and slashing the work of other scholars of Biblical history and archeology, citing his actual influence on the good ideas of others when they fail to attribute them to him. That said, this book is an impression piece of scholarship, with a mighty marshalling of sources, both archeological and Biblical, to assert his case for a robust folk religion in ancient Israel. His work mirrors that of many scholars who study the history of Judaism and Christianity. Rather than see these religions as unitary, they are viewed as a plurality of movements. Dever gets to use fun terms like Yahwehisms to explain the multiplicity of beliefs in ancient Israelite society, from the stern monotheism of the writer of Deuteronomy, to the home based cult of Asherah, largely followed by Israelite woman, and every shade in between. High places, sacred groves, pillars devoted the Asherah, and child sacrifice. It is all here, and Dever comes out fighting in this work and never lets up, and the case he makes is both convincing and bold.
Buried treasure, worth the digging.......2007-02-22
The author is too much the professional archeologist to be blunt about it, but the answer to his title question is "Yes, and her name was Asherah" - the Goddess of fertility worshipped by the Caananites. References to her in the Hebrew Bible have been mostly expunged, except for the repeated efforts to stamp out her worship among the Israelites by an elite group of temple scribes who wanted the monopoly on God. (Not only do the winners writer the history books, in this case, the one's who write the history books are the winners). Author Dever challenges the idea that the scribes who wrote the Hebrew Bible were giving us an accurate picture of life in early Israel. Ninety-nine percent of the population was rural, and the practice of their folk religion had many more points in common with their goddess-worshipping Caananite cousins than with the cult of Jehovah as practiced in Jerusalem. It's a fascinating story, and will change the way any reader thinks about the foundations of Western religion. One warning: Dever says he's writing for the lay-reader, but his style remains academic at time, including laying our several chapters worth of groundwork before getting to the good stuff. Be prepared to either for a tough slog at first, or dive in at chapter 5. (Review by the author of Savage Breast: One Man's Search for the Goddess. [...])
Did God have a Wife.......2006-11-10
Excellent content but somewhat boring style. Maps inadequate: author should have had clear maps drawn specific to this book. Diagrams not always clear to a lay reader
Theological Infidelity.......2006-08-26
One of the themes of the Deuteronomistic History is that Israel was occasionally guilty of theological infidelity; Yahweh was always the God of Israel and occasionally Israel would chase after "foreign" gods.
This time around Dever writes about what he calls the folk religion of the people and other scholars call popular religion. Folk religion is not the religion of the priests and the prophets who left us their deliberate ideology (Dever's terms) in the Hebrew Scriptures. I hope readers will wade through the first two chapters of the book in which Dever surveys definitions and surveys schools of approach to the Bible. Quite often Dever's critique of his fellow scholars is that "the vast archaeological data and literature are largely invisible." It is in these sources that one finds folk religion.
Dever is a scholar who does find historical value in biblical texts. He is not a revisionist who believes that the Bible was authored in the Persian or Hellenistic Periods. But the biblical texts have limits. One is that the biblical texts, in their present form, were written no earlier than the 8th century and so are distanced by centuries from the events which they portend to portray. Who knows what sources the writers had? The Bible mentions the Book of Jasher and there could have been oral traditions that had been carried down for centuries. A second limitation of the biblical texts is that its writers had to be selective. In a society where literacy was far less common than in our own, writers wrote for the elite. A third limitation of the biblical writers is that they did not maintain any sort of objectivity not did they make any pretense at doing so. Dever calls this "propaganda." I agree with the term, but it is one that is loaded. Fourth, the portrayal of Israel is an idealistic one. Fifth, the matter of whether the narratives of the bible are history is subjugated to the need of the writers to how they function. This point of Dever's is much like his fourth; fact and fiction are blended for their effect on their audience. The crucial point in this matter is that Dever thinks the archaeological data are more encompassing than the data from the biblical texts; archaeology deals with a "tangible, real world."
This real world is the world of folk religion which is the religion of the hearth/home/women. Interestingly, though Dever appeals to feminine studies, he does so by asserting that "those men were in power." Men typically think in terms of political power whereas women typically think in terms of what is best for the family. At the beginning of chapter 4, Dever describes folk religion as difficult to systematize but having its locus in "any place deemed holy" such as shrines, high places, or local temples. For Dever the archaeological data of these show a basis for folk religion.
Since the 1920s excavations in Palestine have unearthed a number of images of Asherah. The biblical writers find ways to ignore or belittle them. Dever sees this as a deliberate suppression of any reference to Asherah. However Dever still finds some clues. In 2 Kings 18, King Hezekiah attempts a reform that removes the high places, cuts down the Asherah, etc. Yet Hezekiah's son, Manasseh sets up a graven image of Asherah in the Temple. (page 212) Now we are in a better position to understand Yahweh's admonition in Deut 16,21.22 not to set up an Asherah besides the altar of Yahweh.
Dever is highly persuasive in his portrayal of the pervasiveness of Asherah in ancient Israel's folks religion. The idea is not a new one. Dever gives praise to Raphael Patai's _The Hebrew Goddess_ published in 1967. At that time Patai's book was considered somewhat heretical. But I have to agree with Dever that with the archaeological data we now have, it makes a world of difference. It's hard to dispute such facts.
The feminine side of ancient Israelite religion revealed.......2006-04-11
This is a thoughtful, convincing, well-written and well-documented book .I recommend it highly.
The answer to Dever's excellent question is a resounding Yes! While the "Book religion" of the ancient Israelites was, and is, extremely masculine, what the great majority of the people actually believed and practiced was more balanced.
With only the written word to go by, it is easy to forget that Asherah, the consort of the supreme God El, eventually known as Yahweh, even existed. That she and other female deities were honored in the countryside and in the homes of ordinary people is now clearly evidenced by archaeological finds.
Modern Judaism did not spring solely from the minds of the small elite that wrote the early Biblical texts. Folk beliefs and practices continued, prompting the Prophets' constant condemnation.
Dever makes the excellent point that Israelite religion evolved naturally out of the Canaanite religion. It was the experience of the Babylonian captivity, wrenching it away from its folk roots, that transformed it. All the high places and sacred trees were left behind. With only the texts they were able to bring with them, the educated elite tried to hold on to their history and beliefs. When they were allowed to return to their homeland they produced the Bible. The foundation of three major modern religions, it is a remarkable accomplishment. Unfortunately, without the softening effect of the feminine, it has led to the widespread institutionalization of an unbalanced view.
Book Description
The generation of the late twentieth century experienced a rupture in Jewish time. As a result of our confrontation with Modernity, the integration of Jews into the American mainstream, the shattering tragedy of the Holocaust, and the miraculous rebirth of a Jewish State in the Land of Israel, we can no longer look easily to the past for lessons of faith and models of Jewish meaning. No longer do we confidently project ourselves into the future. So much of what was taken for granted in earlier times is now open to question.
In this thought-provoking book, five celebrated leaders in Judaism, representing a broad spectrum of contemporary Jewish experience, reinterpret Jewish life, re-envision its institutions, and re-imagine its future in the shadow of the events of the twentieth century.
Reflecting on the unique events of this century, these eminent scholars assert a shared recognition of human responsibility as the quintessence of God's presence in the world. They imagine a new stage in the development of the ancient Covenant, a stage in which human beings take responsibility for shaping the Jewish historical experience. They explore how that new stage will find expression in the rhythms of Jewish personal and communal life--its implications for halachah, prayer, spirituality, the synagogue, and our relations with the world.
Book Description
The world's three great monotheistic religions have spent most of their historical careers in conflict or competition with each other. And yet in fact they sprung from the same spiritual roots and have been nurtured in the same historical soil. This book--an extraordinarily comprehensive and approachable comparative introduction to these religions--seeks not so much to demonstrate the truth of this thesis as to illustrate it. Frank Peters, one of the world's foremost experts on the monotheistic faiths, takes Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and after briefly tracing the roots of each, places them side by side to show both their similarities and their differences.
Volume I, The Peoples of God, tells the story of the foundation and formation of the three monotheistic communities, of their visible, historical presence. Volume II, The Words and Will of God, is devoted to their inner life, the spirit that animates and regulates them.
Peters takes us to where these religions live: their scriptures, laws, institutions, and intentions; how each seeks to worship God and achieve salvation; and how they deal with their own (orthodox and heterodox) and with others (the goyim, the pagans, the infidels). Throughout, he measures--but never judges--one religion against the other. The prose is supple, the method rigorous. This is a remarkably cohesive, informative, and accessible narrative reflecting a lifetime of study by a single recognized authority in all three fields.
The Monotheists is a magisterial comparison, for students and general readers as well as scholars, of the parties to one of the most troubling issues of today--the fierce, sometimes productive and often destructive, competition among the world's monotheists, the siblings called Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
Customer Reviews:
The 3 M.E. Monotheisms Compared.......2004-08-31
For clarification, there are actually 2 different books here with the same title, except for different volume numbers. The title to both books is: "The Monotheists: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Conflict and Competition." Both books have the same bluish-color cover, so they may seem to be the same in small pictures. To differentiate, you need to see the fine print: "Volume I: The Peoples of God" versus the altogether separate book "Volume II: The Words and Will of God." Vol. I: tells the story of the foundation and formation of the three monotheistic communities, of their visible, historical presence (ISBN:0-691-11460-9; 328 pages). Volume II: is devoted to their inner life, the spirit that animates and regulates them (ISBN:0-691-11461-7; 406 pages). Other books by F.E. Peters are: "Islam: A Guide for Jews and Christians", "Judaism, Christianity, and Islam", and "The Children of Abraham."
Book Description
Using the medium of historical fiction, The Shadow of God covers six centuries of Jewish history, from the Babylonian exile to the destruction of the Second Temple. Fifteen stories, each centered on a historical event, explore typical Jewish characters of the era. Women and men, some historical, some fictional, grapple with changing views of God, Torah, and the attraction of Hellenism. The narrator, Leontius, weaves the stories into an organic saga that answers the ancient call to be a Jew and worship the Most High God. Here, students will unearth up-to-date scholarship on early Judaism, teachers of Bible backgrounds will discover a supplemental text that engages while it instructs, and lovers of fiction will be delighted by the good story of The Shadow of God.
Customer Reviews:
Most incredible book ever.......2007-05-04
This book is absolutely amazing early christian/jewish historical fiction piece. I was fortunate enough to take a class with the Author himself - he is a most educated scholar and noble man, his book reflects his knowledge and passion for christian roots.
Historical fiction at its best.......2005-07-08
I purchased this book hoping to get a feel for what post-exilic life was like for the Jews. I knew the basic historical dates and events, but I wanted to learn more about this relatively unknown period of Jewish history.
Sandgren's book met all of my expectations. The stories are clearly based on accurate historical research, and they are well-written. They emphasize the life of the people rather than the decisions of the powerful. The author also ties the stories together in the epilogue by highlighting certain themes that emerge from the narratives.
If a reader wants to learn more about the background or find suggestions about where to do more historical research, the endnotes will provide all that the reader wants. Another helpful feature is the detailed timeline at the end of the book.
This is historical fiction at its best.
A great read!.......2005-05-06
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in early Judaism and Christianity. Although many of the characters in the book are fictitious, the stories allow one to understand how real people at the time might have reacted to the events occurring in their lives. As an example, to read the biblical passages about Ezra requiring the Jews to divorce their foreign wives is one thing. But, to experience this from the perspective of a Jewish family actually having to separate yields a very meaningful understanding.
Not only is the book pleasurable reading, but it is based on solid scholarship with numerous reference and explanatory notes. One can appreciate the book as well written stories getting the scholarship as a bonus, or one can read it for the information, but in a painless format. Professor Sandgren gets an A+ on this assignment.
Average customer rating:
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JEW GODS AND HISTORY.
Manufacturer: P/B
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HFS3JS |
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- Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw
- Leo Strauss and the Politics of Exile: The Making of a Political Philosopher (Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry Series)
- Many Lives, Many Masters: The True Story of a Prominent Psychiatrist, His Young Patient, and the Past-Life Therapy That Changed Both Their Lives
- Marie Antoinette: The Journey
- Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War
- Mein Kampf
- Mindfulness for Beginners
- Mother Angelica: The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve, and a Network of Miracles
- One Day Too Long
- Pleasure Wars (Bourgeois Experience, Victoria to Freud/Peter Gay, Vol 5)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Strategic Fund Development, 2nd Edition: Building Profitable Relationships That Last
- How to Be Your Dog's Best Friend: The Classic Training Manual for Dog Owners
- Doing Art Together
- Eminent Georgians: The Lives of King George V, Elizabeth Bowen, St. John Philby, and Lady Astor
- History: Fiction or Science
- Northanger Abbey, Lady Susan, The Watsons, Sanditon
- History: Fiction or Science
- Gender Trials: Emotional Lives in Contemporary Law Firms
- Cool Careers Without College for People Who Love to Build Things
- Directory of Grants in the Humanities 2001-2002
