The Evolution of God 1st Edition by Robert Wright (PDF)

Description

In this sweeping narrative that takes us from the Stone Age to the Information Age, Robert Wright unveils an astonishing discovery: there is a hidden pattern that the great monotheistic faiths have followed as they have evolved. Through the prisms of archaeology, theology, and evolutionary psychology, Wright’s findings overturn basic assumptions about Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and are sure to cause controversy. He explains why spirituality has a role today, and why science, contrary to conventional wisdom, affirms the validity of the religious quest. And this previously unrecognized evolutionary logic points not toward continued religious extremism, but future harmony. Nearly a decade in the making, The Evolution of God is a breathtaking re-examination of the past, and a visionary look forward.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐The Evolution of God is not only well-written and skillfully argued. It is an important book in the field of religion as a part of culture. Wright’s focus is on the development of monotheism and the purposes this idea serves in both past and present. He argues that monotheism that we find in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam has traceable history and also a trajectory of development. it seems to have arisen out of an original polytheism and gained its early form as ancient Israelites began to insist that, while the gods of other peoples existed, theirs was the only god worthy of worship. It was only in the later stages of the Hebrew Bible’s composition that the Jews became fully committed to the idea that there is only one fully divine being. The Jews then transmitted this idea to the founders of Christianity and Islam and put all three faiths on path toward what Wright calls “non-zero sum-ness.” What he means by this boils down to a growing tendency of monotheists to view other societies and religions, as potential partners in improving the world, rather than competitors for the limited goods that the work has to offer. He leaves open the question of whether or not this movement in the human idea of God might be evidence of God’s objective existence. In any case it has enormous power on the level of morals and ethics. One might expect such a book to be fraught with academic deadly-boring-ness. But Wright is a clear and engaging writer accessible to any educated reader. I definitely recommend this book.

⭐This book is not for everyone. If you are afraid to question the complete and total accuracy of the Bible or the Koran, you should not read this book. If you truly want to understand the history and cultural context that underlies our beliefs and religious doctrines, read this with an open, questioning mind. The Evolution of God is one of the most thought provoking and insightful books I have ever read. I had difficulty relating to the “game theory” analysis and to Mr. Wright’s concept of God at times, but that still did not detract from the overall principle that is the subject of this book. I can honestly say that this book forever changed my perspective on religion in a good way. While it may seem that, to understand the origins and fraility of doctrines and beliefs we are taught we must unquestionably accept as members of modern Christianity or other religions, would lessen a person’s belief in God, in fact this book has only strengthened my belief in the perpetual existence of God and the bonds that bind all of humankind through God.

⭐Wright’s introduction, Afterword, and Appendix highlight this book for me—and throughout, the vital evolution of non-zero-sum awareness, with its potential to reconcile religion and science—which the future of human civilization on the planet may depend on. His candor, clarity, and keen historical insight are truly refreshing, even when the history is truly god-awful. Rigorous scholarship, massively footnoted, can make for tedious reading, but his wry humor and colloquial phrasing ease the way. He does not cite current developments in Jesus scholarship, however, which disappoints me. Whether he’s unaware of the Jesus Seminar, and work by folks like John Dominic Crossan, Marcus Borg, and John Shelby Spong, or knows and discredits them, I found no clue. Regardless, this is the most objective and thorough consideration of God up to now, and maybe for a long while yet to come. It challenges true-believers and rabid disbelievers, alike. It’s a keeper.

⭐Just finished reading Robert Wright’s book the Evolution of God. A good book arguing that monotheism was the outgrowth of a process of growing social and economic connections. A good sociological reading the economic and political reasons behind the rise of monotheism. At one level I found it better than Karen Armstrong’s book because it attempts to explain this evolution rather than just describe it.The book starts by revealing many new facets of animistic religions that I was not familiar with. It made me look up Primitive Culture by the famous anthropologist E.B. Taylor. Wright’s book also has a fascinating account of the emergence of Judaistic monotheism from monolatrist thought. The book has a surprisingly positive appraisal of Islam as a modern religion.Overall the book argues that man’s understanding of the divine develops from the particular (deity of one tribe) to the general (God of all mankind) and from the irrational (animism) to the rational (God is the Logos of the world) as man himself develops from primitive to modern society. Its a very Hegelian argument but couched in an ostensibly materialist epistemology (in the sense that the positive evolution of morality is, to my mind, somewhat of an open question).What fascinated me the most about the argument was the instrumental role of the philosopher Philo. Philo emerges as a giant religious and secular philosopher because of his successful synthesis of the Greek notions of Logos with monotheism. This was an aspect that I was not very familiar with and till reading this book I had never ranked Philo very high in the history of philosophy. With this book, however, he towers above the others as the thinker that is instrumental in the synthesis of religious and philosophy.

⭐all good

⭐Good read. There is no hint of any evolution of GOD from the African perspective in the book as if there is no history whatsoever in relations to this

⭐This is not a book for those of faith, as faith defines analysis. Nor is it a book for academics or theologians, who will find much to disagree with and argue over. For the others this is, for the most part, an interesting account of the historical development of one religious thread: the idea of a single god.It is a book about a big subject; what it is not is a book about religion in general. For example, it is not concerned with religion in the East.The author has an interest in non-zero game theory. The reader may be fascinated by this as applied to religion or may just skim over references to it. It is the reader’s choice and a belief in it is not required.The book has four main sections. “The Birth and Growth of Gods” deals with the originating ideas, in the religious respect for the forces of nature leading to a personification of these forces into a multitude of gods. “The Emergence of Abrahamic Monotheism” shows how many gods became a single tribal god, then a national god, then a universal god influenced by, or reconciled with, Greek philosophy. “The Invention of Christianity” and “The Triumph of Islam” narrates the two great surviving extensions of Abrahamic religion. Finally, a fifth section “God goes Global (or Doesn’t) ” give a modern summing up and a projection to the future.

⭐Although quite lengthy, this is a high quality book about the gods of history written by an agnostic materialist. His history of the origination of god-like figures in the hunter gatherers is well researched and quite sensical. The author then traces the expansion of what the peoples view god as being as the communities in which they live grow in size and complexity. In all cases, however, the author sees that it was man, out of his needs, who created their existing image of god, and not the other way around. Religion is formed from ‘the ground up’ and not from ‘heaven downward’.Although he remains true to his agnostic stance Wright is able to conclude that in spite of religion’s origination dynamics, there may actually be something that is ‘divine’ in mankind afterall. He sees that the moralistic base of most cultures, throughout time, have improved. And while history shows a repeated series of upward and downward spirals morally and spiritually, he feels that overall the moral base of the world is improving. The one critical element that this process needs is for each of the Abrahamic religions to give up their feeling of ‘being special in god’s eyes’ and admit that they are all chasing after the same god. This is something that will not happen anytime soon.I highly recommend this book for those persons who are researching the existence or non-existence of God and how this impacts not only the individual but society as well.

⭐For anyone who is a Believer or not, this book provides a wealth of information about “God”. The author presents his ideas in a non threatening way and he does not lecture the reader.

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