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God [Hardcover]

Alexander Waugh (Author)
3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)


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Book Description

0312329059 978-0312329051 May 1, 2004 First Edition
This is a book about God.

Not just any god, but the god that created Adam and Eve; the god of Abraham, the god of the Jews; the god of the Christians; and the god of Islam---without a doubt, the most influential figure in the history of human civilization. But what do we really know about him? Who is he? Where did he come from? What does he look like? What sort of character does he have? What, if anything, does he eat? Does he have a family? In what ways can he be said to even exist at all?

Alexander Waugh has been asking questions like these for as long as he can remember. Now, having drawn from an enormous range of sources, from the sacred books of the Torah, the Christian New Testament, and the Islamic Qur'an, from the Greek Apocrypha and the ancient texts of Nag Hammadi to the Dead Sea Scrolls, he has sought out the answers. Using material gleaned from the diverse writings of saints, rabbis, historians, prophets, atheists, poets, and mystics, he has molded his findings into a singular, striking biographical portrait of God.

Erudite, perceptive, and entertaining, God reveals many startling and unexpected characteristics of the divine being. From the simple stories of Genesis and Job, explored from God's own viewpoint, to the prophecies of Muhammad and Sybil and the intricate philosophies of Newton and Nietzsche, Alexander Waugh has left no stone unturned in his compulsive mission to create a fascinating and complex portrait of God, as humans have claimed to understand him.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Despite its title, this book should not be confused with Jack Miles's God: A Biography or Karen Armstrong's A History of God. Those books are works of serious scholarship for the general public; this one seems more like a Monty Pythonesque Book of Lists as Bertrand Russell might have compiled it. Waughâ€"grandson of Evelyn, son of Auberonâ€"comes by his cynicism honestly and employs it relentlessly as he piles up thousands of tidbits about God from the Bible, the Qur'an, the Book of Mormon, the Mishnah, the Gnostic gospels, Dante, the medieval mystics and John Milton. Dividing his chapters by Shakespeare's seven ages of man, he amasses creation stories in chapter 1 ("Mewling and Puking"), stockpiles death-of-God philosophies in chapter 7 ("Sans Everything"), and in between accumulates snippets about every imaginable or unthinkable topic including God's preferred smells (burnt meat and incense), short memory and, above all, vicious cruelty. Though Waugh says that questions about God's existence and nature "ought to be treated with respect at the very least, for they are questions of the utmost historical significance," his own approach relies heavily on sarcasm and acrimony. "God must be gratified," he writes, "surprised, puzzled even, that he is nowadays so often described as 'good'â€"especially since the holy scriptures bear a considerable weight of testimony to the contrary." Readers who appreciate British schoolboy humor, are amused by exaggerated literalism and enjoy poking fun at organized religion will hail this encyclopedic mishmash.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Like his famous grandfather, novelist Evelyn Waugh, Alexander is erudite and flinty, possessed of a fierce, highly toned intelligence and a wicked sense of humor. Much has been written about scripture and theology, he observes, but virtually nothing about God. So, by means of 257 talking points that plot out a line of argument, rather than a traditional narrative arc, he attempts a portrait of God. He asks questions about God and comments on the God that appears in various guises in the sacred books of the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Qur'an, as well as in the writings of mystics and prophets. Among specific topics, he discusses Adam and Eve, the Tree of Knowledge, Cain and Abel, the virgin birth, the corporeal nature of God, celestial laughter, the Ten Commandments, the Muslim conception of Jesus, temptation, Friedrich Nietzsche, and much more. The resulting dialectic about the nature of God is fascinating, provocative, entertaining, and guaranteed to set more than a few tongues wagging. June Sawyers
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; First Edition edition (May 1, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0312329059
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312329051
  • Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,200,446 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Average Customer Review
3.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Worthwhile, August 1, 2008
This review is from: God (Hardcover)
While this book is unconventional in presentation, the scholarship and intellectual underpinnings are remarkable. For any layperson interested in "The White Goddess" or "The Golden Bough", Waugh's poking and prodding of the old testament will provide opportunities to re-examine the foundations of western thought.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars god, February 1, 2010
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This review is from: God (Paperback)
WOW!! get it? really a terrific book for the believer and nonbeliever alike. waugh is NOT blasphemous repeat NOT blasphemous except to those of you with little faith
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9 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Challenging, January 26, 2007
This review is from: God (Hardcover)
Alexander seems to spend the entire book pulling clips of information out and stuffing them under your nose, accompanied with the challenging 'and what about this anomaly, huh, huh?' He had really made his point by chapter two, after which it just became tiring.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
False start.-Why should anyone need to find God? Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
God of Israel, Hebrew Bible, Mount Sinai, Thomas Aquinas, New Testament, Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ, Old Testament, Holy Ghost, Ark of the Covenant, Catechism of the Catholic Church, Lord God, Simon Peter, Summa Theologiae, Lord of Hosts, Most High, Christian God, Creator God, Elsewhere God, God the Father, John of Patmos, King James Bible, Odes of Solomon, Odes Sol, Orthodox Jews
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