god by Reza AslanMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
What is God? Where did the idea of God come from? These are the questions Reza Aslan examines in his latest book.
I am an agnostic brought up in the Christian tradition and a lover of Aslan's book Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. I also read many popular science books about the brain, so I was excited to find that Aslan included cognitive science in his consideration.
Although it is written in a clear and engaging style, I am afraid I was disappointed in this book, a result I will lay at the feet of a mismatch in expectation and execution. Aslan provided a great many notes that I would have wanted in the text; that is, he just asserts things like "we are born believing in a soul," without discussing it. Yes, there is more in the notes (the bibliography and notes take up half the book), but I found it a very dissatisfying construction.
What the book is, Aslan says in the end, is a tracing of God through archaeology and history that mirrors his own journey to a religious view that most closely resembles Sufism, a mystical tradition of Islam. I guess I expected a more scholarly discussion; I might have found that more enlightening.
I wonder if I could adjust my expectations if I would find this trip through Western religions -- very little is said of Buddhism and Taoism, for instance, while focusing on the religions born of the Middle East -- providing more food for thought. This book should certainly spark discussion and would be best read a jumping off point rather than an end point.
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