{"product_id":"how-god-became-god-isbn-9780399185557","title":"How God Became God","description":"\u003cb\u003eThis 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.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom 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. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSmoley 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. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut 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.“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.”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—Larry Dossey, M.D., author of \u003ci\u003eHealing Words\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eOne Mind\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"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.\" \u003cb\u003e--Eben Alexander, MD, author of \u003ci\u003eProof of Heaven\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"I have a standing rule: I read anything Richard Smoley writes.\" \u003cb\u003e--Larry Dossey, MD\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Smoley...is adept at unknotting the paradoxes of spiritual traditions and making new connections across centuries and languages.\" \u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"One of the liveliest, most intrepid, and most gifted explorers of the spiritual landscape writing today.\" \u003cb\u003e--Ptolemy Tompkins, author of \u003ci\u003eParadise Fever\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eRICHARD SMOLEY is one of the world's most distinguished authorities on the mystical and esoteric teachings of Western civilization. A graduate of Harvard College and the University of Oxford, he was a longtime editor of the venerated spiritual journal \u003ci\u003eGnosis\u003c\/i\u003e. Smoley is the author of books including \u003ci\u003eInner Christianity, The Essential Nostradamus, The Deal: A Guide to Radical and Complete Forgiveness\u003c\/i\u003e, and\u003ci\u003e Forbidden Faith: The Secret History of Gnosticism. \u003c\/i\u003eHe is currently editor of \u003ci\u003eQuest: Journal of the Theosophical Society in America\u003c\/i\u003e.","brand":"Tarcher","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46300333474021,"sku":"NP9780399185557","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780399185557.jpg?v=1767729310","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/how-god-became-god-isbn-9780399185557","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}