Treatise on the Gods (Maryland Paperback Bookshelf) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "imagine them as a creatures but slightly different from men. It may identify them with animals, natural forces, or inanimate objects, on the earth or..." (more)
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Editorial Reviews

Review

In Treatise On The Gods, Mencken takes on the history of religion from pre-history to the practice of Christianity in his own day. First published in 1930 (and revised in 1946), this book generated more controversy than any of his other books, but surprised some of Mencken's most bitter critics with its genuine scholarship, sober tone, and admirably clear exposition. His aim in writing Treatise On The Gods was to consider religion in general (and Christianity in particular) realistically and dispassionately. Mencken (an agnostic) uncovers an open and often unapologetic hypocrisy among adherents, and finds that in the end, none of the world's religions withstand his scientific scrutiny. Long out of print, Treatise On The Gods will be enthusiastically welcomed by a whole new generation of freethinkers and skeptics. -- Midwest Book Review

Review

"Treatise on the Gods is most excellent Mencken." -- Books

"Scholarly, moderate in tone, and luminously expounded, this book, which has already been bitterly attacked, is an amazingly thought-provoking piece of work." -- Current History

"Among the best of his books... a work of genuine scholarship, admirably organized and for the most part surprisingly sober in tone." -- The Nation

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (June 30, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080185654X
• ISBN-13: 978-0801856549
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #487,453 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fair, lucid, and brilliant, December 9, 2000

By	"ebreit42" (New Port Richey, Florida United States) - See all my reviews

This book is Mencken at his best. Far from being biased, this book is the most objective approach to religion I have ever read. Most books that discuss comparative religions do not attempt to go to the beginning: when man first tried to tame the forces of nature through evocation of some deity. That speculation is actually one of the reasons why this book is an extremely valuable contribution to the philosophy of religion.

Mencken does not claim that fear is the only religious impulse (as asserted below), although he does believe that fear is an important one. Mencken believes that the religious impulse is a desire to exert control over the forces that command one's destiny.

He delivers a fair, logical, and certainly NOT biased look at religions world-wide from the beginning of history to the present. His critiques of Christianity (for example, his examinations of the Bible) are now accepted as true even by Christian theologians. The book's examination of Christianity alone is worth twice the price, but coupled with a dispassionate analysis of comparative religions makes it priceless. Mencken's discussion of the roots of many Christian practices make for enlightening reading. Regardless of one's faith, there is a treasure trove of knowledge here. Most people have never attempted to take an intellecutal look at religion or its history: Mencken does both, with this amazingly thought provoking and scholarly work.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard Headed Skeptic of the Theological Arts, March 14, 2004

By	Donald B. Siano (Westfield, NJ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

H. L. Mencken was a rare man indeed. He was a hard headed skeptic of the theological arts, but took an intense, scholarly interest in it, and it was a boon to the universe of thoughtful men when he decided to report back to them on what he found there. The book he wrote will stand for a long while as the best of its kind--at once dispassionate and informative, with more than a little of his trademark wit thrown about with an undisguised glee. His enthusiasm for his subject bubbles out all over the place.

The book begins with an imaginary story of how religion must have gotten started among the first primitive men. It is a story well told, and reveals what Mencken imagines is at the root of men's heart much of the time--a fear of the unknown, and an understandable aspiration to master that fear by some means. Then, very early on, the con men step in to utilize the fear for their own ends--power and cash. To successfully create a job for himself, he proceeds to invent embellishments unintelligible to the poor saps, and rituals that only the initiated, such as himself, can perform.

The book continues with some comparative religion, basing most of it on what the Romans sneered at, that the Greeks made dramas about, what the Jews borrowed from the Babylonians, and what the Asiatics actually first dreamed up. He finds in all of this the roots of Christianity, and especially the stuff that Christ had never thought of, which the theologians later added for the most practical of reasons.

His account of the early church and the evolution of the bibles is gratifying in its scholarship and clarity of description. He makes the ancient theological quarrels come to life, imparting an understanding that is a valuable addition to any freethinker's equipment. Occasionally, the real Mencken peeks through, enlivening and enlightening as he goes.

The best part of the book, though, is when he shows how religion is inadequate for the job, and is in a full retreat before the onslaught of science and rational methods, leaving the truly civilized man with " a way of facing the impenetrable dark that must engulf him in the end, as it engulfs the birds of the air and the protozoa in the sea ooze....not perhaps with complete serenity, but at least with dignity, calm, a gallant spirit."

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not For the Theologically Sensitive, January 13, 2005

By	The Spinozanator (Waco, Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

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Pleasant, easy to read, and thorough overview of religion from the beginning of humanity, with an emphasis on Christianity, from the position of an atheist.

From the preface: "My book is mainly factual. Its purpose is simply to get together, in handy and I hope readable form, the material data about the embryology, anatomy, and physiology of theology, with an occasional glance at its pathology....Religion was invented by man just as agriculture and the wheel were invented by man, and there is absolutely nothing in it to justify the belief that its inventors had the aid of higher powers, whether on this earth or elsewhere....There is no purpose here to shake the faithful, for I am completely free of the messianic itch..."

Chapter I "Its Nature and Origin" - Mencken describes his view of how early priests came into being in prehistoric society: "One Spring there came great rains in the valley and on their heels a flood of melting snow...One night the flood rolled into the lowermost cave, cut off the occupants, and drowned a mother and her child...The rising water to them seemed like a living thing...One fellow steps boldly forth...He goes close to the edge and bombards his enemy with stones...Growing bolder, he stalks into the water and belabors it with his club...the next morning the flood begins to recede...This first priest could accomplish something that other men were incapable of...What more natural than to give thanks?...True religion was born at that moment...He took on the aloof, philosophical air of a dermatologist contemplating a rash: he learned how to avoid making promises and yet hold the confidence of his customers... He gave some thought to the form and content of his first incantations, and thereby invented the first ritual...The gift of blarney went with the sacerdotal office, in the early days as now...the new trade of priesthood had attractions that were plainly visible to any bright and ambitious young man...When he let it be known that there were certain things, done by the people, that would gratify the gods and insure their aid, these things began to be regarded as virtuous, upright, moral. When he announced that other things were frowned upon, they straightaway became sins...The priest found himself a law-giver...Did the fires rage and the sky remain dry? Then it was because the faithful had forgotten their plain duties...It was not the priest's fault...calamities were plentiful in those days, as they are now. They remain the most potent weapons in the armamentarium of the priest...Theologians, as a class, are practical men. Immortality, as they preach it in the modern world, is but little more than a handy device for giving force and effect to their system of transcendental jurisprudence: what it amounts to is simply a threat that the contumacious will not be able to escape them by dying...I am myself a theologian of considerable gifts, and yet I can no more imagine immortality than I can imagine the Void which existed before matter took form. Neither, I suspect, can the Pope."

Chapter II "Its Evolution," continues as an academic treatise, but sprinkled liberally with condescending and clever phraseology: About creation myths: "In no department of theology is there a vaster accumulation of amusing rubbish." About afterlife: "Even in India, the very gonad of theology..." About contradictions in the Bible: "The collection of tracts called the New Testament is so full of inconsistencies and other absurdities that even children in Sunday School notice them."

Chapter III "Its Varieties" is a study of comparative religions. This is a well-done academic piece with fewer "Mencke-isms."

Chapter IV "Its Christian Form" is a beautifully written history of Christianity, highly complimentary of the Old Testament as poetry and Literature, and is the best chapter in the book. He reviews the well-accepted J, E, D, & P authorship of the Torah, with brief mention of how it was compiled. (for more info on this, read "Who Wrote the Bible," by Friedman). This chapter alone is worth the price of the book. According to the bibliography, he gets much of his factual material from James Hastings' Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics.

Chapter V "Its State Today," resumes "Menckeisms," such as, "The church as an organization has thrown itself violently against every effort to liberate the body and mind of man. It has been, at all times and everywhere, the habitual and incorrigible defender of bad governments, bad laws, bad social theories, bad institutions."

I thoroughly enjoyed this entertaining and informative book and highly recommend it. For a different approach to the same subject, I recommend Atran's book, "In Gods We Trust."