How God Became God: What Scholars Are Really Saying About God and the Bible

by Richard M. Smoley Narrated by Richard M. Smoley

Overview

This epic, thrilling journey through Bible scholarship and ancient religion shows how much of Scripture is historically false--yet the ancient writings also resound with theologies that crisscrossed the primeval world and that direct us today toward a deep, inner, authentic experience of the truly sacred. From a historical perspective, the Bible is shockingly, provably wrong--a point supported by today's best archaeological and historical scholarship but not well understood by (or communicated to) the public. Yet this emphatically does not mean that the Bible isn't, in some very real measure, true, argues scholar of mysticism Richard Smoley. Smoley reviews the most authoritative historical evidence to demonstrate that figures such as Moses, Abraham, and Jesus are not only unlikely to have existed, but bear strong composite resemblances to other Near Eastern religious icons. Likewise, the geopolitical and military events of Scripture fail to mesh with the largely settled historical time line and social structures. Smoley meticulously shows how our concepts of the Hebrew and Christian God, including Christ himself, are an assemblage of ideas that were altered, argued over, and edited--until their canonization. This process, to a large degree, gave Western civilization its consensus view of God. But these conclusions are not cause for nihilism or disbelief. Rather, beneath the metaphorical figures and mythical historicism of Scripture appears an extraordinary, truly transcendent theology born from the most sacred and fully realized spiritual and human insights of the antique Eastern world. Far from being "untrue," the Bible is remarkably, extraordinarily true as it connects us to the sublime insights of our ancient ancestors and points to a unifying ethic behind many of the world's faiths.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

04/11/2016
With a folksy approach to examining the nature of the Bible and God, Smoley (Inner Christianity) treads in pedestrian fashion over ground already well covered by others. Smoley trudges through an overview of biblical history—covering the time of the Judges, the exile and its aftermath, Jesus and his context, and the birth of the church, among other topics—before he finally comes to his own points in the book’s closing pages. Along the way, he commits a few gaffes in the service of his attempt to uncover ideas he believes still have little circulation; for example, Smoley treats the divergence of biblical events and archaeological records as startling news. He concludes that the New Testament Gospels contain “much material about Jesus that is not factually true,” but fails to mention that scholars have long held the Gospels to be proclamations, not biographies. Smoley undertakes this overview in order to back up his theory that Jesus is an incarnation of Yahweh, the Great Angel—a figure who appears in the canonical books of Genesis and Daniel as mediator between God and humankind. Readers seeking a clear understanding of the findings of biblical scholarship will be better rewarded elsewhere, but those looking for esoteric theories about the nature of God and Jesus will benefit from Smoley’s book. (June)

From the Publisher

Enormously comforting, encouraging and inspiring. [This] is a book of tremendous service to spiritual seekers…. The threads of sanity, academic integrity, and conservative, evidence-based claims are of inestimable value in anyone's spiritual quest…. Sheer delight, page after page, chapter after chapter.”
—Larry Dossey, M.D., author of Healing Words and One Mind

"Smoley is a crucial guide to the ancient traditions, and to how a greater understanding of those traditions can make our lives today more meaningful." —Eben Alexander, MD, author of Proof of Heaven

"I have a standing rule: I read anything Richard Smoley writes." —Larry Dossey, MD

"Smoley...is adept at unknotting the paradoxes of spiritual traditions and making new connections across centuries and languages." —Library Journal

"One of the liveliest, most intrepid, and most gifted explorers of the spiritual landscape writing today." —Ptolemy Tompkins, author of Paradise Fever

 

Library Journal

08/01/2016
Smoley (The Deal: A Guide to Radical and Complete Forgiveness), whose expertise is in the areas of religion, spirituality, mystical, and esoteric thought, wants to inform religious congregants and other readers about contemporary Bible scholarship. He does so by explaining that most scholars do not view some scriptural narratives as having actually taken place, and that despite these findings, the Bible still has vital relevance when interpreted in a spiritual or esoteric manner. Smoley shows that these scholars don't believe that the flood of Genesis and the mass Exodus of the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt occurred in the ways recorded. The book is full of such examples. Yet, Smoley's discussion of the Bible's continued poignancy and meaningfulness is only considered in one chapter—creating a bit of imbalance. VERDICT While scholars and laypersons with more conservative views on the Bible and biblical interpretation will likely disagree with the author's arguments, those with an interest in biblical scholarship will find this book to be informative and helpful.—John Jaeger, Dallas Baptist Univ. Lib.

Kirkus Reviews

2016-03-28
Retelling of modern views and scholarship on the Bible.Smoley (Supernatural: Writings on an Unknown History, 2013, etc.) offers a systematic tour of modern secular scholarship regarding the Jewish and Christian concept of God. The ground he covers, however, has been well-worn in recent years, and Smoley offers little new insight. The author too often engages his readers with the condescending view that he knows a secret of which they are not yet aware: that by and large what is written in the Bible isn't true. Nowhere is this clearer than in his chapter on the birth of Jesus, in which he compares his role as spoiler to the boy who told him years before that Santa Claus didn't exist. Smoley follows this odd comparison with the statement, "another little-known fact: scholars believe that none of the Nativity story is true. None—zero." Throughout the book, the author makes blanket statements about how certain unnamed "scholars" believe this or that. Those scholars he does mention by name are often on the outskirts of mainline research—e.g., John Dominic Crossan or the group known as the Jesus Seminar. By sensationalizing modern research and focusing on nontraditional authors, Smoley ostracizes many readers. In particular, he often refers to people who believe in orthodoxy as "fundamentalists," and scholarship by people of faith is mostly absent in his work. Smoley does provide casual readers with ample background for understanding many of the arguments set forth in recent decades (and indeed, recent centuries) concerning the authorship of books of the Bible, the role of ancient Israel in history, the identity of Jesus Christ, and other topics. The author's experience as a student of mysticism is evident throughout his work, and he ends the book with a highly heterodox personal statement about the identity of God and the origins of humanity. A decent resource, but several authors, from Karen Armstrong to Bart Ehrman, have provided better sources for curious readers.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940172414039
Publisher:	Ascent Audio
Publication date:	07/01/2016
Edition description:	Unabridged

Videos