The evolution of God

Finserra reviewed The evolution of God by Robert Wright

Review of 'The evolution of God' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This one took a while. It attempted to answer and raise a lot of questions about the interrelationship, development, and writing of central texts of the three great Abrahamic faiths. For those of you with a bent towards nonfiction, history, and religion (of the “religious studies” variety), I think it would be well worth your time. It was very good. While it was very speculative in parts, I found those parts to be more probable than not.

WiFlag reviewed The evolution of God by Robert Wright

Review of 'The evolution of God' on 'GoodReads'

4 stars

It's almost an atheistic manifesto of proving that God is just made up over the years, but somehow the author still believes - almost as if he is not understanding his own argument

Applemcg reviewed The evolution of God by Robert Wright

Review of 'The evolution of God' on 'LibraryThing'

4 stars

Other than Wright's (over? -) selling his notion of non-zero-sum-ness as the discovery of the morally aware religion/culture, this book is as gentle a nudge as it can be in today's troubled waters. Not only do today's "people of the book" have much to learn from one another's religions, but each as much from within their own. He lists fundamental challenges to each of the common trio: Judaism will have to accept the Exodus story is not historical, and that Yahweh evolved from tribal gods of the region. Christians will have to accept Jesus' message of love wasn't particularly novel, nor as universal as we've come to believe. Islam will need to learn (not unlike the other two) that words ascribed to the Prophet were later additions. Each will have to give up an exclusivity standing in the way of the next level of moral inclusion.returnreturnWright threads the history with …

Other than Wright's (over? -) selling his notion of non-zero-sum-ness as the discovery of the morally aware religion/culture, this book is as gentle a nudge as it can be in today's troubled waters. Not only do today's "people of the book" have much to learn from one another's religions, but each as much from within their own. He lists fundamental challenges to each of the common trio: Judaism will have to accept the Exodus story is not historical, and that Yahweh evolved from tribal gods of the region. Christians will have to accept Jesus' message of love wasn't particularly novel, nor as universal as we've come to believe. Islam will need to learn (not unlike the other two) that words ascribed to the Prophet were later additions. Each will have to give up an exclusivity standing in the way of the next level of moral inclusion.returnreturnWright threads the history with human nature and the evolutionary forces which put us on the path to recognize religious spirituality. He recognizes the "God gene" as an explanation, but as likely to face erosion as earlier naturalist dieties.

Paul Fidalgo reviewed The evolution of God by Robert Wright

Review of 'The evolution of God' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

Robert Wright, in his latest book The Evolution of God, promises up front that he will make a plausible case for the existence of some force or intention behind the universe that could be called "divinity," and does so in the midst of making a different case altogether: that our notions of the illusory "one true god" (and Wright does call the idea of God an "illusion") adapt over time to the circumstances of the people believing in him.

On the second argument, he succeeds brilliantly. Not so much in that this is a revelation (is it a surprise to anyone that religious notions change to fit the times and situations of the humans inventing them?), but in the fluid, accessible, and vivid way in which he makes his case and educates the reader. 90 percent or so of The Evolution of God is utterly engrossing and fascinating in this …

Robert Wright, in his latest book The Evolution of God, promises up front that he will make a plausible case for the existence of some force or intention behind the universe that could be called "divinity," and does so in the midst of making a different case altogether: that our notions of the illusory "one true god" (and Wright does call the idea of God an "illusion") adapt over time to the circumstances of the people believing in him.

On the second argument, he succeeds brilliantly. Not so much in that this is a revelation (is it a surprise to anyone that religious notions change to fit the times and situations of the humans inventing them?), but in the fluid, accessible, and vivid way in which he makes his case and educates the reader. 90 percent or so of The Evolution of God is utterly engrossing and fascinating in this way.

On the first argument, however, he fails, and it leaves one utterly puzzled.

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piotr

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July 24, 2016

The evolution of God

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