The Death of the Mythic God: The Rise of Evolutionary Spirituality [Paperback]

Jim Marion (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 19, 2004

Is God dead? Jim Marion says that what has really died is our myth of God, our worn-out notion of the deity in the sky, separate from us, who intervenes in our lives only when petitioned strenuously. God still exists, but we need to update our interpretation of God’s nature. The mythic sky God was never real, says Marion. It was only a concept of God, now outdated.

The real God is in the human heart, within the world, operating as the engine of evolution. God grows us from within into ever higher levels of awareness.

In a bold revisioning of contemporary spirituality, Marion, author of the acclaimed Putting on the Mind of Christ, shows us how to expand consciousness and follow the genuine path of Jesus and the world’s mystics into greater inner development.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Death of the Mythic God is a brave, passionate, eloquent book written by a man who loves the world deeply and knows that this time of apocalypse is also one of unprecedented possibility. Seekers on all paths will derive great benefit from it." —Andrew Harvey, author of Son of Man and The Direct Path

From the Inside Flap

God Isn't Dead--But Maybe Our Conception of God Is

Is God dead? Jim Marion says that what has really died is our myth of God, our worn-out notion of the deity in the sky, separate from us, who intervenes in our lives only when petitioned strenuously. God still exists, but we need to update our interpretatin of God's nature. The mythic sky God was never real, says Marion. It was only a concept of God, now outdated.

The real God is in the human heart, within the world, operating as the engine of evolution. God "grows" us from within into ever higher levels of awareness.

In a bold revisioning of contemporary spirituality, Marion, author the acclaimed "Putting ont the Mind of Christ," shows us how to expand consciousness and follow the genuine path of Jesus and the world's mystics into greater inner development.

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: Hampton Roads Publishing (July 19, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571744061
• ISBN-13: 978-1571744067
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #567,049 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Birth of Spiritual Truth, September 26, 2004

By 

Todd Havens (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Death of the Mythic God: The Rise of Evolutionary Spirituality (Paperback)

When I read Jim Marion's first book, 'Putting On the Mind of Christ', I felt as if I had finally found someone who could help an agnostic kid who had stumbled upon nondual consciousness find the common ground between modern (often incomprehensible) Christianity and his own mystical experiences. Thanks to Marion, for the first time in my life the Bible reflected back my own worldview. No small task, to be sure. His first work was refreshing and its impact quite groundbreaking for me.

'The Death of the Mythic God' is the continuation of Marion's bold journey into his own spiritual truth, though it's a truth that is available to us all. In this smaller tome, he explains his observations and beliefs in the simplest of terms, the true sign of a gifted teacher with much to say.

Marion believes that it's time we retire the concept of the mythic god who lives up above the clouds, separate from His creation, doling out rewards and punishments upon a predominantly sinning and rebellious populace. This belief was really only a reflection of the collective consciousness of earlier times and cultures, he contends. We are now mature and intelligent enough, however, to really investigate humanity's unshakable belief in a higher power. It can never be repeated enough that this higher power is, as odd as it may first sound, at the very core of our own being. (His beliefs and my own.)

Since I was so thrilled to find his first book, this review is assuredly not very neutral in tone. But if you have a mind that is open enough to realize that the path to spiritual maturity (even enlightenment) begins with the very first question you pose of your culture's ingrained religious belief system, then you will find a very exciting and safe world to explore within these pages. I highly recommend this book to any curious and seeking soul.

Although my own path to meeting the God within was different than Marion's, it's almost eerie that much of what he writes parallels my own thoughts and experiences. Therein lies the proof I need that 'Death of the Mythic God' is built upon a very sturdy and Truthful foundation.

37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Focuses on our move away from a mythic understanding of God., October 20, 2004

By 

Robert Anderson (Pacific Northwest) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Death of the Mythic God: The Rise of Evolutionary Spirituality (Paperback)

In his first book, "Putting on the Mind of Christ", Marion described the Christian's spiritual journey as a gradual rise in consciousness. He shoe-horned (not in a bad way) it into a philosophical construct of Ken Wilber's that describes the various levels of consciousness that we as individuals and collectively as human civilization go through in our evolution of consciousness toward God.

Marion continues that line of thought in this book, but focuses on where western society, at large, is at in the process - i.e. we are moving beyond viewing God as a mythological being who resides up in the sky and is a seperate and somewhat detached observer of human development. Marion describes the various philosophical, religious and scientific influences that are moving us in this direction and attempts to reconcile this manner of thought with existing Christian dogma.

Although this book was interesting, it repeated a fair amount of what was in his first book and covered much of the same ground that other writers have been focusing on lately such as the intersection between science and religion.

I would recommend reading his first book, first and then reading this one if you're hungry for more detail.

Overall, however, interesting and worthwhile.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very thought-provoking and relevant book...., March 22, 2008

By 

Patrick D. Goonan "see profile for URL" (Livermore, CA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Death of the Mythic God: The Rise of Evolutionary Spirituality (Paperback)

There are some very good and extremely thorough reviews of this book. However, I wanted to add to the commentary a simple interpretation of the relevance of this book to the average person.

What I liked about this book is that it looked squarely at some apparent problems with the disconnect between what the author calls a "Mythic God" concept and modern rationalist society. For many people, there are significant gaps in synthesizing old conceptions of God with science, post-modernism, etc. This book which is engaging and accessible to the average person certainly puts the central issues front and center and offers a plausible although not perfect alternative. In other words, it provides great food for thought and for many people are more sophisticated paradigm that doesn't require a course in philosophy to understand.

I rated this book highly partly because it tackles a difficult topic in understandable language and offers a fair amount of supporting argument that is accurate. Where it doesn't fair quite as well is in terms of scholarship. As other reviewers point out, there are flaws in some of the arguments in terms of a deep understanding of Christian philosophy. I won't go into specifics here because others have already done that.

Despite this books flaws, I highly recommend it for Christians, agnostics and those embrace a very strong rational view. While it isn't perfect, it is certainly a step in the right direction and there is much of value here for the average layperson to ponder. This book is also extraordinarily readable, enjoyable and not overwhelming. I am very well read in this area and I read through this in about two days. I also became very engaged with the book and the author held my interest. While I don't agree with all of what he says, I do agree with the general argument, the need for a more up-to-date interpretation of Christianity and looking for ways to build bridges between other fields of knowledge.