River of God, The: A New History of Christian Origins (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Where did Christianity come from?..." (more)
Key Phrases: monistic cultures, inclusive monotheism, lesser divine beings, Holy Spirit, New Testament, River of God (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Believing in Jesus means so many different things to so many people that it's difficult, if not impossible, to define the true essence of Christianity. The differences between a charismatic Baptist hymnal, for instance, and a high-church Anglican communion merely scratch the surface of the many varieties of Christian belief. The River of God reminds readers that Christian belief has always been wildly diverse, and that Christianity was preceded and informed by many ancient cultural traditions. This is the point made by author Gregory J. Riley, professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the Claremont School of Theology in California and the author of One Jesus, Many Christs. Riley's prose is mostly uncomplicated, and his metaphorical argument is fairly clear: many cultural streams converged to form the river of God, and material from those streams built up the delta of Christianity. But this book is not, as its subtitle claims, "A New History of Christian Origins." It is primarily a reworking of a familiar and amply documented fact, made popular by the work of Elaine Pagels and Jack Miles, among others: Christianity did not spring into being independent from its cultural context. Like life, it evolved, and continues to evolve. Though not original, Riley's point does bear repeating. Its repetition cultivates Christian humility, by helping to remind us that everyone in history who has ever learned to live well--including, or perhaps especially, Jesus--has learned largely by paying attention to the world around him. --Michael Joseph Gross --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

In what is now a rather commonplace argument, Riley (One Jesus, Many Christs) contends that Christianity originated from the tremendous theological diversity of Near Eastern religions and that its origins cannot be explained or understood adequately by simply emphasizing its roots in Judaism, as he claims conventional scholarship has done. He proposes instead a threefold model of genealogy, punctuated equilibrium and the "river of God" to investigate Christian origins. First, he examines Christianity's genealogy, examining all the branches of its family tree to locate the sources of ideas such as the Devil, body and soul, and monotheism. Second, he argues that Christianity evolved by embracing certain ideas that would ensure its survival and rejecting others that did not contribute to its longevity. Finally, in an unoriginal manner, Riley uses the image of a river to demonstrate the diversity of religious traditions that have flowed into Christianity as well as the variety of traditions that have developed within Christianity itself. But Riley's book is plagued with problems. His subtitle is misleading, for he doesn't offer a new history of Christian origins; acknowledging and emphasizing the religious diversity upon which Christianity depended has been a standard approach for more than a decade. Riley also passes along some inaccuracies. Plato never equated the Good with God, and Aristotle probably would be horrified to learn that his Unmoved Mover is God. Riley's pedestrian prose and lack of originality combine to steal the zest from what otherwise could have been an exciting book.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne (March 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060669802
• ISBN-13: 978-0060669805
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #286,948 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The River of God: The Whole Story, October 25, 2001

By	K. R. Vincent "Ken R. Vincent" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The River of God: A New History of Christian Origins (Hardcover)

In The River of God, Gregory Riley shines light on much of the history of Christian origins often ignored by scholars. Most researchers of Christianity restrict themselves to the influence of the West (Greek and Roman) and often confuse Rabbinic Judaism with the Judaism of Jesus' times; Prof. Riley adds the whole of Middle Eastern religious history to the story of our search for God. Riley includes the development of Cannanite and Mesopotamian religion in the history of ancient Judaism. In addition to Greek ideas of Orphism, Pythagoreanism and Plato, he recognizes the Egyptian and Persian Zoroastrian influences on the development of Christian concepts of afterlife. Riley outlines the role of Persian Zoroastrianism on our understanding of Satan and a world savior. He details how various ancient religious models of God from both East and West as well as Greek science contributed to the development of our understanding of the division of body and soul and the creation of the doctrine of the Trinity in the fourth century. The River of God is not a general overview of world religions; it is specifically about the development of Christianity from a modern Christian perspective. Prof. Riley writes with a broad brush in his outline of the development of Christianity and, while scholars will quibble over some of the details and generalizations, I found The River of God to be an excellent overview of our understanding of "the process of the River of God."

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jesus as a Jewish Gnostic, July 1, 2004

By	William H. DuBay (Costa Mesa, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This work by Gregory Riley of the Claremont School of Theology, also author of "One Jesus, Many Christs," makes the case that the major doctrines of the New Testament and early Christianity came from the Jewish Gnostics, who were centered in Galilee, Jesus' home base.

The peoples of the Mediterranean world, including the Hebrews, all believed that the earth was a flat disk sitting on top of a disk of water. Over that was a hard dome, not more than a few thousand feet high, on top of which sat the gods. All the gods had bodies, including the Chief One. The Hebrews, like everyone else, never believed that God was an immaterial spirit or that people had spiritual souls that could unite with God after death. People just lived out their lives on earth under the gaze of the gods and the fates.

This view was challenged by the great mathematician Pythagoras in the 6th century b.c., who stated the earth is a sphere, and by Eratosthenes, who in the 3rd century b.c. computed that the earth is 40,000 kilometers in circumference, wonderfully close to its actual size. Riley says we cannot over emphasize the dramatic effect this new Greek science had on religious beliefs (the whole premise of his book is that religious beliefs are constantly changing in response to their times). For one thing, these discoveries made the material universe immense, infinite. For another thing, there was a commensurate change in the idea of God. The Greeks developed the via negativa method of describing the new God as immaterial, ineffable, and unknowable. Plato extended this idea of God to humans, describing their bodies as shells from which the soul-an emanation of God of sorts-would escape after death and return to God.

Riley says that these ideas were slow to catch on, but they did. In Jewish society they took root among the very well educated class, especially in Galilee-a true crossroad of many cultures and religions. (Jerusalem was in the isolated highlands). Riley says that at the time of Jesus, all the Pharisees, Essenes, Gnostics, and Hellenists together were a very tiny fraction of Jewish society. The educated classes among the Jews, especially the Gnostics, were very interested in the new Greek ideas of God. If God was all perfect, however, what caused evil in the world? For that answer, the Jewish Gnostics relied on Persian Zoroastrian religion, which proposed a cosmic conflict between the god of good and the god of evil.

The Gnostics had to demote the Evil One from a god to a fallen angel, but he served the purpose of drumming up all the evil and suffering in the world. In their scenario, a lesser emanation of God had created a very imperfect world, which God allowed the devil to corrupt and control in order to test his human creations. The New Testament teachings of Jesus embody the doctrines of the Jewish Gnostics almost verbatim. Riley emphasizes what revolutionary teaching this was at the time. People did not know they had immortal souls. Neither did they suspect what great danger they were in. This constituted the "new wine" of Jesus' teaching. Riley writes:

"Fundamental to the teaching of Jesus was the dualism of body and soul. From the point of view of religious studies, Jesus was a genius-what scholars call a master figure-and his dualism was unique. In many ways it was similar to that of Orphism, Pythagoranism, and Plato, yet it is fair to say that the cosmos of Jesus had a darker side, for he was also conscious of the spiritual warfare inherent in the kingdom of God. No Greek philosopher believed in the Devil, nor did the Zoroastrians have a view of body and soul based in science (as did the Greek philosophers), Jesus brilliantly combined both traditions into something new."

Riley says that the signature parable of the NT was the first parable seen in the Gospel of Mark (4:3-8, 14-20) of the sower going out to sow his seed. The seed that fell beside the road was picked up by the birds (the devil), on rocky ground (persecution), and in the weeds (cares and temptations of the world).

Riley states that the new doctrine overturned the values of the world, making death, suffering, and persecution the means of eternal happiness. Jesus himself would submit to "persecution" (orchestrated by the Devil, no less) to demonstrate his belief in the afterlife. The Devil would use every means of tripping up people, including the use of "false prophets and religions." This warning gave impetus to the desire of bishops from the beginning to stamp out religious dissent and other religions-all seen as instruments of the devil.

This negative view of the world goes a long way in explaining the incipient violence of Christianity and its ability to alienate people from the world, nature, and their own bodies and emotions. These doctrines still have a powerful grip on western society.

Riley is also able to point out where the writers of the New Testament and later Church councils were picking and choosing among Gnostic doctrines. For example, Plato had assigned five concentric shells that would isolate the Monad from the world, emanations of the godhead that did his bidding. The Gnostics extended this divine group, called the "pleroma" or "fullness," to 365 beings. The author of John limits these intermediary gods to the Word. The author of Colossians states twice that in Jesus alone "is the "pleroma" of God (The Holy Spirit would be worked in later.)

Jesus as springing from the Jewish Gnostics makes him a much more interesting character. Just his being from Galilee sets the authorities of Jerusalem on edge. And how did Jesus as the (perhaps illegitimate) son of a tradesman ingratiate himself with the well-educated Gnostic Hellenists of Galilee? He could have distinguished himself by his special talents or beauty or both.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent history of the evolution of religious concepts., July 10, 2003

By	A. G Provencal "Armey" (Taunton, MA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I really like this book. The analogy to an actual river is a concept of brilliance.
All these religious ideas have interplayed with others. They are the products of the human mind in various stages of cultural evolution.

The anthropomorphic god who walked in the cool of the day in the garden. He became the ethereal Monad in the perfect spheres of the geocentric universe.

What is a soul? What is the body? Riley shows that 5'th century
BCE Greek science created the concept of a soul. It was adopted by the religous beliefs. First Greek then Zoroastrian then Jewish then Christian.

Great read!