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God

A Human History

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God

Written by: Reza Aslan
Narrated by: Reza Aslan
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About this listen

 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The acclaimed author of Zealot examines humanity’s quest to make sense of the divine in this “timely, riveting, enlightening, and necessary” (HuffPost) history of our understanding of God.
“A fascinating exploration of the interaction of our humanity and God.”—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

In Zealot, Reza Aslan replaced the staid, well-worn portrayal of Jesus of Nazareth with a startling new image of the man in all his contradictions. Now, Aslan takes on a subject even more immense: God, writ large.

With thoughtful, accessible scholarship, Aslan narrates the history of religion as one long and remarkably cohesive attempt to know the divine by giving it human traits and emotions. According to Aslan, this innate desire to humanize God is hardwired in our brains, making it a central feature of nearly every religious tradition. As a result, we bestow upon God not just all that is good in human nature—our compassion, our thirst for justice—but all that is bad in it: our greed, our bigotry, our penchant for violence.

More than just a history, God is an attempt to get to the root of this humanizing impulse in order to develop a more universal spirituality. Whether you believe in one God, many gods, or no god at all, God: A Human History will challenge the way you think about the divine and its role in our everyday lives. Religious Studies Spirituality World Ancient History Middle East Agnostic Africa Middle Ages Mythology Tradition Ancient Greece Iran

What the critics say

“Timely, riveting, enlightening and necessary.”—HuffPost

“Tantalizing . . . Driven by [Reza] Aslan’s grace and curiosity, God . . . helps us pan out from our troubled times, while asking us to consider a more expansive view of the divine in contemporary life.”—The Seattle Times

“A fascinating exploration of the interaction of our humanity and God.”—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“[Reza Aslan’s] slim, yet ambitious book [is] the story of how humans have created God with a capital G, and it’s thoroughly mind-blowing.”—Los Angeles Review of Books

“Aslan is a born storyteller, and there is much to enjoy in this intelligent survey.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Extraordinary . . . clear, concise [and] lively.”—The Spectator

“Breathtaking in its scope and controversial in its claims, God: A Human History shows how humans from time immemorial have made God in their own image, and argues that they should now stop. Writing with all the verve and brilliance we have come to expect from his pen, Reza Aslan has once more produced a book that will prompt reflection and shatter assumptions.”—Bart D. Ehrman, author of How Jesus Became God

“Reza Aslan offers so much to relish in his excellent ‘human history’ of God. In tracing the commonalities that unite religions, Aslan makes truly challenging arguments that believers in many traditions will want to mull over, and to explore further. This rewarding book is very ambitious in its scope, and it is thoroughly grounded in an impressive body of reading and research.”—Philip Jenkins, author of Crucible of Faith
All stars
Most Relevant
Very well narrated and deepened my understanding of human history as it pertains to religion

Eye opener

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He takes such an intense topic and does such a great job of summarizing it without bias

for those seeking answers

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I struggled a little bit with the beginning. The tone was a bit sappy and romantic, and some of the conclusions were a bit too presumptuous and lofty, simple and feeble. Reza Aslan is an upper echelon thinker with fascinating insights though. The book improved drastically and was well worth taking in. it's a brief history of religion, human relationships with ideas of divinity, and a concise look at some interesting theological Theory. The last line alone makes the book worthwhile.

This guy is cool!

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outstanding book with a very good breakdown of the history of God from various religions and belief structures

outstanding

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Every once in awhile I come across a book that summarizes what I’ve learned in multiple other places. This is one of those books. It is a history of the idea of god, a history of humanity and a history of monotheism. There was nothing that was new to me here, but I really enjoyed it. This is a great book that I can recommend to people instead of a stack of 10 other books.

Are those other books going to be more in depth? Yeah, sure. That’s fine. This book is brief (5 hour audiobook), but the ideas are concise and clear and well written. I really enjoyed it and will probably listen to it again in a year or two.

The interesting twist was in the last chapter, where he switched from a history of the idea of god, to an appeal to an understanding of god in a pantheistic way. I didn’t mind this chapter. Even though I don’t necessarily buy it, I did appreciate hearing his train of thought and why he is a believer in a pantheistic god.

This audiobook is also narrated by the author, which is something I always appreciate.

#Audible1

Excellent and brief history of the idea of god.

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