Seems worth noting that the appendix was actually one of my favorite parts! ( )

This was an absolutely fascinating read. The research was so impeccably done, I was pretty much in awe of the effort it must have taken to put this book together. But I did have one problem with the book and that was that it focused almost exclusively on the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. All the worlds other numerous religions were given so little mention which struck me as a rather serious shortcoming. ( )

If he'd just stuck to the evolution of the conception of God, this book would have actually been worthy of the prize it received. The half-ish about whether Christianity & Islam are doomed to fight never really got off the ground in any convincing way for me. ( )

O premiado autor conduz uma intrigante pesquisa, na qual revela como as doutrinas religiosas ― dos animistas primitivos às lendas dos primeiros deuses ― mudaram com a evolução do homem. Com base em conceitos da arqueologia, teologia, história e psicologia evolucionista, Wright derruba ideias preconcebidas e mostra que, ao contrário do que estabelece o senso comum, Moisés não levou o monoteísmo para o Oriente Médio e não foi um fanático religioso militante, nem um líder espiritual bondoso, mas um político frio e pragmático. Em uma abordagem otimista, revela que as religiões têm como vocação a reconciliação e aponta caminhos para uma união entre todas as crenças, a teologia moderna e a pesquisa científica.

This is one of those books that shifted my perspective in a way that will last. The basic premise of the book is that religions -- especially the major monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam -- have grown in universality over the years. Although the growth has not been monotonic, it has been persistent.

The underlying reason, in Wright's view, is that as human society becomes more complex, there is a need for the definition of "us" to broaden and include people who were formerly "them". Increasing complexity makes society increasingly non-zero sum. The positive consequences of cooperation multiple, and even more importantly, the negative consequences of animosity multiply. (One of the side comments I really appreciated was that lose-lose is just as much a non-zero sum state as win-win.) Before society operated by the acknowledged rule of law, religion was a primary source of the bond that expanded "us" beyond kin groups. As that need increased, religion continued to take on that role.

The cornerstone of Wright's case for that view is his analysis of the Bible. He shows that how in both Judaism and Christianity, the biblical text reaches out beyond the current conception of "us" when Jews and later Christians were in a non-zero sum relationship with those around them. Just as predictably, when the situation was seen as more zero sum -- often when the group was in power or was being exploited -- the biblical text reflects that by become more critical of those in the out-group.

The chapters on Islam were weaker, but still insightful. I would appreciate the same framework applied to non-monotheist religions (although I don't think it would make sense as a part of the same book). But all-in-all, this was an excellent book. ( )