Customer Reviews

God: A Guide for the Perplexed

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you (like me) are a well-read amateur in the field of philosophy and religion, you will get a lot of mileage out of this book. The early chapters and the last one or two chapters, in particular, explained some difficult theological and philosophical concepts without (I think) over-simplification. The author's great sense of humor really keeps you going--the titles of the chapters themselves are great fun. Parts of the middle are pretty rough sledding as Ward deals with Hegel and Marx, who really don't have a lot to say about God, though they influenced people who did.

This book is probably not for philosophy grad students (too simple) or newcomers to the field (too rigorous). Newcomers would do better with A History of God, by Karen Armstrong. Regardless of experience, however, all would benefit from the contrast he notes between popular religious opinions and the official theology of mainstream churches. The Pope reiterated the other day that heaven and hell are metaphors for humans' relationship to God, and yet I hear from Catholic lay people some very concrete and prosaic beliefs like guardian angels and demons. There's a big gap between educated and uneducated beliefs within churches, probably bigger than the differences between educated persons in different churches.

Ward is clearly a liberal Anglican, and this Unitarian Universalist sees a lot of common ground with his viewpoint. Ward is also very persuasive, and I found myself having to seriously grapple with issues he presents, such as his argument on the personhood of God, which boils down to saying "God is more like a person that he is like, say, a rock." The people I'd most like to see grapple with what he writes are, sadly, impervious to dialogue.

For those of us weary of a warm and fuzzy God whose plans for us can be summed up on bumper stickers, Ward--obviously a skilled teacher, given his puns, his nimble summaries of Hegel, Wittgenstein, and Tillich among other heavy-hitters, and his welcome b.s. detector, is your man. He sets out how classical and contemporary attempts to plumb a Creator's role and our response to such role-playing are often surprisingly similar.

For, unlike the personalized, overly touchy-feely or stern and tetchy divinity models we're confronted with in the mass market (a pun not made by Ward!), he offers us a more distant, more mature deity that we have to make an effort to face up to, who may not necessarily be that bothered about if we mix wool and linen or collect sticks on the sabbath or get into fights over trinitarianism. His book, as another reviewer points out, is not the first place to begin, but makes excellent "intermediate" reading for anyone seeking to meet philosophers who've tried making sketches of a deity more--or less--detailed for the few perhaps unsatisfied with what that "mass market" is given as "God."

My only star subtraction is for the fact that at times Ward seems too self-satisfied with his interpretations, and fails to see how what these erudite thinkers have to say about God has failed and probably will go on failing to find popular transmission and acceptance among many of the less-informed clergy and parents and cultural images who publicize the kinds of images of God we get as kids and often never grow out of. While he alludes to this once in his own preaching (eliding over the context of a passage he cites), I wish Ward could have had some suggestions on how to change this. As it is, his book is like a hidden "egg" in the DVD that a few seekers will stumble upon while 99% of the other players will amble past it-- obliviously. Being at Oxford rather than out among the unlettered hordes, he may place more faith in the consolations of philosophy than the rest of us usually find. Still, one of the advantages of such books as Ward's is that we gain his years of donnish insight and clerical practice even if we missed out on that Rhodes scholarship.

And, as Ward points out, if more of us realized how insufficient and patronizing popular conceptions are vs. those of the dons and profs here, maybe we'd all calm down a little in our theological ranting. If only more of us could accept the probability that perhaps we won't live forever, but be subsumed into some numinous essence. Problem is, as Ward shows, it takes some growing up on our part to accept such versions of a God more involved with the big picture than with our little lifespans. And it's scary too, if, well, more logical.

This is a wonderful book to introduce both philosophical notions of God along with theological ones. If you have dismissed God as the guy in the sky or have become disgusted with the petty arguing over whose God is better or Real, this book might offer you a far more satisfying and cogently argued position for believing in God. I would have liked to see more references to Taoism and Buddhism but that may be quite unfair since the author does a wonderful and fair job of introducing Western philosophical reasoning about God.

Theologian and philosopher Keith Ward takes the ready on a challenging, entertaining, elucidating and spiritually motivating journey in this work on God and how he has come to be perceived and known throughout antiquity and into modernity. Beginning with the Greeks and Romans, Ward describes how these cultures envisioned not a God but gods who were more reflections of human virtues and character traits. Ward moves on to the God of the Jews, a God whose name could not be said but who chose this group to be his own and to be subject to his commandments. Moving along, Ward explains how philosophers jumped into the fray, how Christians introduced God as someone with whom one had a relationship, someone who was now no longer a distant impersonal judge, but someone in important ways just like his creatures. There are passages that are extremely challenging, especially when Ward delves into the esoteric realms of intellects like Hegel and Kierkegaard, but there also passages that are extremely clear and transparent, and can help any believer grow in knowledge and understanding. In particular for me, I found Ward's explanation of St. Anselm's proof for God's existence satisfying and comforting, as was Ward's explanation of the relationship between God and morality. As a bonus, Ward writes with a wry humor that sometimes had me chuckling - not the usual reaction one has when reading such a heady subject.

Borrowed it from the library, read it three times, knew I had to buy it. Something I plan to pick up again and again over time. Well-written.

I expected a more historical/ecumenical presentation. The author's Christian and Biblical background predominate - which, given his background, is only natural, I suppose.