Customer Reviews

What Is God?

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

As much as parents think they can totally direct their child's faith, the truth seems to be that each of us comes to our own understanding of who or what "God" is.

This book is a good opening for discussions of religion with children (who will eventually grow into adults, with their own experiences, choices, experiences). We can lay the foundation, express our beliefs and hopefully let our lives speak.

This is a very short, brightly illustrated book to have on the bookshelf for those times when a small child asks, What is God? or when you want to bring up the topic. The book answers the questions with "Maybe," which allows the children to share their own reflections.

It also talks very very briefly about different ways people pray, the great teachers, and the different religions of the world - Christianity, Judaism, Muslim, and Buddhism plus a reference to other beliefs.

I like the page that talks about commonality among religions. It also touches on the arguments that happen when people disagree about God. It focuses a lot on prayer, and in the end it suggests ways to talk to God in a universalist way.

This book is not for atheists or fundamentalists of any denomination. Nor is it for anyone set with the belief that their belief is the only Way. It does not question the existence of God, although it does provide different interpretations of what God means, or could mean, to a variety of people. (Best book on this topic, though, is still Old Turtle.)

This book may not be for everyone-but it was perfect for me. As a Unitarian, I don't have a canned dogma to tell my kids when they ask spiritual questions. This book helped me a few yrs. ago with my older son and recently with my youngest. You have to be open minded and want to raise your kids to be that way, or you might actually be offended by this book's content. It presents God from many points of view, how people fight over God and how they percieve him (her), and lets the reader draw his/her own conclusions. Yes, it's a kid's book, but it's also helpful for adults. The beautiful drawings also were appreciated.

My spouse and I are from two different religions; and while we have decided to raise our kids from my religion, we both wish our children to be open-minded. I don't claim to be a philosopher, nor do I play one on TV. I also don't claim that this book definitely goes into depth as to why some people take religions and use them for malevolent purposes. But I DO think that this book is a great starting point for mature kids of 5 and older to discuss the burning question about G-d and how people all over the world view G-d. G-d's role in different religions, and how people are sometimes not allowed to worship G-d for political reasons - this book runs the gamut. The first time I read it, it actually made me cry.

Put yourself in the shoes of the child that is consuming this book, not in your own, adult shoes, which are more mature and understand that there are many shades of grey surrounding the issue of religion. When you look at this book from a thoughtful child's perspective, it truly works. And that is the level that matters.

Over the years, people have asked me what books I recommend for children on the subject of God and religion, even requesting that I myself write children's books. Although I have read several good books on the subject over the years, other than "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" I have not been able to come up with any at the spur of the moment. That inspiring book, however, is not specifically about God and religion, and is also geared for an older audience.

For younger children, even as young as those who can understand full sentences, "What is God?" by Etan Boritzer is without a doubt the best children's book on the subject of God and religion that I have read to date. As is appropriate for young children, "What is God?" contains marvelously attractive illustrations by Robbie Marantz that may hold the attention of the wandering mind which is still too young to understand some of the heady but accessible concepts provided by Boritzer's fabulously inclusive text. The book is simply appealing from cover to cover, and the best surprise is that it is not at all preachy and would be useful for even the most ardent unbeliever to teach his or her children about what other people believe about God.

This book is so great, in fact, that I believe reading it to all the world's children would have an enormous impact on ending religious strife globally. "What is God?" does not teach children what to believe. It is not threatening to any parents, except for those who think that informing their children about other people's beliefs will somehow "poison" their minds. This book simply and matter-of-factly recites a wide variety of beliefs from around the world, including the simplistic and childish concept that God is an old man with a long white beard who lives in the sky. "Next time you fly in an airplane," says Boritzer, "look out the window at the clouds. But you won't see that God there, because no one has ever seen that God!"

"What is God?" continues in this vein, relating that religions are sets of beliefs shared by groups of people, generally revolving around a shared holy book and a teacher believed to be divinely inspired or to understand the question "What is God?" Boritzer explains that there have been many teachers and books, listing the most famous such as Jesus, Moses, Mohammed and Buddha, and the Bible, Koran, Torah, Vedas and Sutras. He also imparts the knowledge that these beliefs have caused people to fight among themselves over whose concept of God was right and whose was wrong. The author further delves into what is prayer, in a highly satisfying manner.

My favorite part is where God is described as everything:

"Yes! God is everything great and small!
God is everything far away and near!
God is everything bright and dark!
And God is everything in between!...

"If everything is God,
Then I am God,
You are God,
All of us are God!"

In a sense, this last part IS teaching us and our children what to think about God, but is it in fact harmful? Or, just maybe, do these concepts serve as an inoculation against strident and exclusionary beliefs that our children will surely encounter down the road, which truly ARE harmful?

The interpretation of these concepts that follows in "What is God?" is that believing we are all God allows us to connect spiritually with each other and with the universe as a whole. As a longtime observer and critic of religious strife, and someone who has striven to provide solutions to this dilemma, I can state that such a perspective can only be helpful for all to hear and understand.

Boritzer's style is enlightened, kind and gentle, such that no one should feel threatened but all are made to feel welcome. Although it was not within the purview of his work to discuss atheism, Boritzer may have wished to include one or two sentences which related that some people do not believe in a god of any sort and do not pray, but that's okay too!

The suggestion that I write children's books curiously led me to discover this wonderful tome, as I attended a seminar with the author on how to publish children's books. Little did I know what a life-changing event it would be, as I am now able with great clarity to pass along to my own progeny pertinent information concerning what I regard an extremely important subject. I am also able to explain what it is I do! For example, in the part of "What is God?" that illustrates how people fight over the concept, I was able to share that I like to stand in between the two men in the picture fighting over the word "God" and to tell them to stop! Any small child can appreciate these ideas.

"What is God?" should be present in libraries, churches, synagogues, temples and mosques the world over, translated into every major language, and read by every person interested not only in the subjects of God and religion but also in world peace.

Acharya S
Author, "The Christ Conspiracy" and "Suns of God"

Don't know how to start talking with your young children about God? Don't know how to answer their questions in a non-judgemental and open way? Here is the book to get things started. This book is for all families who embrace open-mindedness and reject the idea that any religion has a monopoly on truth. Touching on the great teachers and holy texts of such religions as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism and, finally, showing the similarities between them, this book opens the door to many meaningful discussions and reflections.

For those of you who, like me, are struggling with this issue, or just like to have a book for discussion... I stumbled across this book and found that it really filled a niche for us. The book covers the perspectives of several religions, and discusses it all at an appropriate level for my 5.5yo daughter. I know that my daughter has run across references to various deities in her reading and has asked about it. This book made it easier for me to help her figure out something like an answer for herself.

How do you bring home to children the point that God is ultimately the only reality and that everything else is God's activity -- that, in the final analysis, the world is just "made of" God and nothing else?

(For that matter, how do you bring it home to _adults_ -- who, especially if they've been warned about this sort of thing by dog-in-the-manger "theologians" who read the words but didn't hear the music, are all too likely mistake it for either pantheism or self-worship?)

Well, really, nobody can bring it home to anybody else; we can only offer each other opportunities to realize it more or less directly. But Etan Boritzer has done a very nice job of giving children a chance to experience this truth, and Robbie Marantz has done some fine illustrations to accompany Boritzer's text.

Boritzer simply raises the title question -- "What is God?" -- and informs the reader that various answers have been proposed, mostly by teachers who lived a long time ago. (Parents of most religions will find this approach as inoffensive as I do, but some Christian readers will likely object to Boritzer's treatment of Jesus as one teacher among others. And all readers should be aware that Boritzer is not introducing or favoring any particular religious tradition here.) He pokes a little bit of gentle fun at the view that God is a white-bearded old man who lives in the sky.

Boritzer then notes that most religions teach essentially the same things, at least as regards the standards of ethical human behavior. (Of course this is a tremendous oversimplification, but it is true at a sufficiently high level of generality.) Moreover, he places the responsibility for religious wars firmly on those people who don't know this.

But never mind ethics; not all religions say the same things about God, right? So can they all be right?

Sure they can, Boritzer concludes. _Anything_ that is true must be true of God, because there isn't anything else for it to be true _of_. God is all there is -- so the wind is God and the stars are God and you are God and I am God . . .

(That's the part that will bother some readers, who may not recognize the difference between Boritzer's claim and the very different claim that _you personally_ are the Almighty and All-knowing Creator of the Cosmos. Suffice it to say that this isn't what Boritzer means, and if you don't see what he _does_ mean, you'll have some trouble explaining it to your kids.)

Boritzer makes a few remarks on prayer and concludes by inviting the reader to experience his or her "connectedness" with everyone and everything else. Parents who want to introduce their children to meditation or contemplative prayer couldn't ask for a better opening.

The whole thing is very well-executed. I won't try to recommend companion volumes for grown-ups, because any parent who buys this book has already got a shelf-ful of the relevant literature. If you know what I'm talking about and you want to introduce your kids to it, this is a good book to use.

The information above says the book is suitable for ages 9-12, but I think it's probably okay for a broader range than that. You know your own young'uns best, of course, but a precocious five- or six-year-old can probably handle this.

Our daughter is of the age to wonder why. And because the God Question is about the thorniest we expect to face, we have been looking for a Good Explanation.

I started by relying on personal knowledge. Since I was old enough to question, I've been reading about religion and spirituality. You name it, I've probably read the basic texts. And, by profession, I sort of know how to tell a story.

So on Easter Sunday, when the little one asked about the egg roll, I saw an opportunity to explain about a more significant roll --- the rolling of the rock from Jesus' tomb.

Two sentences in, she walked away.

And I got it. Talking about God is like teaching a kid to swim. It's not a job for every parent; it's surely not advised for those parents who are, like us, still searching. So we started looking for a book.

And now we have one.

When the time comes, "What is God?" will be our First Responder.

It is short (32 pages), with a lovely water-color on the left hand page of each spread and three or four short paragraphs on the right.

It could not be more straightforward. On Page 1:

Maybe we can't really talk about God
Because maybe we can't see God
Or maybe we can't hear God
Or even taste or smell or touch God

Maybe we can only feel God
Like we can feel love
Or like we feel happy or sad.

From there, Etan Boritzer takes us back, to a brief history of belief, focusing on the image of God as "an old man, with a long white beard." Next time you're on an airplane, he suggests, look at the clouds: "You won't see that God there/Because no one has ever seen that God!"

Maybe, he proposes next, God is an "eternal mystery." Then again, "some people think that there are teachers/Who have been able to solve the puzzle."

And now, for those who have a strong personal belief, we're on dangerous ground. Organized religion can be like organized sports; people tend to root for their home team. Which makes them hyper-sensitive about anything that looks like "criticism".

After Boritzer takes children through the great religions, he jumps right into the hot zone. He notes that sometimes, "people of one religion want everyone/To know `What is God?' in the same way/That they understand God."

What these people don't understand, he says, is that "Most religions are almost the same!" That is, they tell you to be good to others, not to lie and cheat and steal. And if more people thought about that, maybe we wouldn't have so many "fights" about God.

The book closes on a high note: the forms of prayer and the good fortune of living in a country where there's no official religion. And then, perhaps the highest note of all:

So when we pray to God,
When people of all religions pray to God,
We are really praying for that feeling,
The feeling that connects all of us.

When we pray to God,
We are praying for that feeling of love
To come to us and to everyone we know,
Maybe even to all those people we don't know,
So that we can be happy together, or apart.

Lovely stuff. Hard to disagree. But on the last page, Boritzer will drive some parents crazy --- and thrill all whose sympathies lie in the East:

So, if you really want to feel God,
You can close your eyes now,
And listen to your breath go slowly in and out,
And think how you are connected to everything,
Even if you are not touching anything.

That's pure Thich Nhat Hanh Buddhism.

Propaganda? In this house: practical wisdom. I mean, I've seen it work. Once, when our daughter was so unhappy she was blubbering, I put my hand on her chest and said, "I can't help you when you're crying this hard. You've got to calm down. Here's how --- take a big slow breath, then let it out. And again. And again."

Our eyes locked as we worked together. In a minute or so, she was herself again.

In the absence of another "proof" of God, I suspect reading a book that returns a child to herself --- to the magic breath of life --- would serve our daughter quite well.

As a Unitarian Universalist parent, I bought this for my kids (8 and 5). Not a good choice. There are way too many words considering the abstract nature of the book and lack of story line. The oversimplifications, particularly of Buddhism, offended me. The author seems quite taken with his own cleverness, and the humility one might expect from a mystical, all-religions-point-toward-God attitude is missing. The part about religious persecution is completely lost on my kids. Maybe other kids, who ask "What is God" type questions, will get something out of it, though I would caution parents to have their answers thought through and not rely on this book to do it.

I wish this book had been available when my children were small; I definitely would have read it to them. The next best thing is to give a copy to my 6 month old grandson for the startup of his library. I can't think of a better answer to a child's question, "what is God?", than this book presents... nor can I think of a better answer for any adult wondering the same thing. The question is a universal one and so is Etan Boritzer answer.
For a more in depth review, read the review by Acharya S, which was enough to prompt me to purchase two copies.