"Do we read what the Bible says, or do we see what we expect it to say?"
Laurence Gardner, Page 129, The Origin Of God
This book is a delightfully mischievous tour through the scholarly history of God, encouraging a high-stakes game of Pascal's Wager.
Geneology being a research passion of the author, the chronicles of God are traced from flesh to aether with just enough branches to balance the landscape. From Adam to Jesus, God's relationships with specific human beings are explored and comparisons made between biblical writings and ancient manuscripts. Biblical translations of God's name are expounded upon and attention is paid to details such as Joseph's Coat of Many Colors and Noah's cargo.
There are 300 subject pages with easy-to-stop-and-start chapters and subchapters, 50 pages of notes and references, 11 pages of bibliography, and an index.
The introduction takes a brief look at the question of God's presence in recent human catastrophes, clergy apologetics included. Chapter 1 begins "The Creation Debate" with the story of the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky as an instance of society's confused notions of biblical history. From here Gardner leans back to tell the biblical tales from the earliest Hebrew Scribes to the Church Fathers. He sorts out the portions of the texts that describe the life and times of the monotheistic deity, emphasizing those records that tell of first-hand experience and observation.
Cultural, geographic and familial ties of the patriarchs and kingship line are charted with meticulous reference to the historical records including dating, mapping and archaeological evidence. The various manifestations of God along the timeline of history demonstrate that God began as a being having two feet to walk on in the garden, and evolved into an heavenly ineffable being. Gardner scrutinizes the process.
By the end of the book, this reader was persuaded by the author's research. It is an interesting read and a superior logical account of the literary evolution of the biblical God.
I also applaud Gardner's courage in pursuing questions about God (and soon to come, The Devil) during his own final years of life; this book is a posthumous publication.
