4 out of 4 stars
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God Versus The Idea of God by Thomas Richard Harry is a nonfiction book about the author’s personal faith journey after a lifetime of on again off again church attendance. He makes it abundantly clear from the beginning that the ideas in his book are a result of his own research, which is neither scholarly nor scientific in nature, implying that the reader should use their discretion when interpreting. Harry starts explaining his views with an in-depth look at the history of the Judeo-Christian understanding of God as well as closely examining Church doctrine.
While the author comes from an American understanding of current cultural-religious aspects, he fully discloses that information at the beginning of the book. When he has trouble with a certain aspect of faith or what the Church is teaching, he lays out his thought process plainly and follows it to its logical conclusion. As he finds different aspects of faith troubling, he calls upon these different sources to help ease his confusion and works on his understanding in light of the new information. When dealing with the history of the concept of God and its effects on various groups of people over time, Harry is impressively thorough in his description of events and their implications, making this book very approachable to even those of his audience that has absolutely no background in this field of religion. This makes his conclusions feel more in tune with contemporary audiences while retaining his credibility.
The author is consistently candid in his mental (rational) and emotional failings when he tries to reconcile some of the more faith-based aspects of religion, which serves to never alienate his audience by acting like he has it all figured out. He highlights his struggles and then provides, often more than one, facets that trouble him, inviting the reader to either share his confusion or come to their own conclusions. I like that he does not quote the Bible, in fact, while he references it in general terms, he tends to quote more modern Christian texts as well as beliefs from other religions, making this analysis more well-rounded.
I was struck by how early in the book the author made his earnest imploration to the audience to remember that whatever conclusions are made in the text are Harry’s own. I know that everyone relationship with religion is different, so I appreciated how candid he is with his audience that he is by no means an expert in this field, so his opinions and conclusions should be treated as such. Harry constantly questions the West’s views on religion and God, never taking for granted even the smallest bit of information, which is accommodating for anyone with the slightest interest in religion.
At times, it can get difficult following his sentences, either due to complicated sentence structure or because what he writes is full of abstractions. This makes sense since this is a text examining the nature of God, but given such a lofty goal, his language overall is almost conversational, albeit a very intense one.
What made this a particularly enjoyable read for a religion focused text is that the author constantly aims questions at his audience, leaving one to stop and ask themselves at their own discretion. This feels more like a conversation and a shared journey that is as interactive as the reader wants, which is I think an important extra step the author took to remain faithful to his first wish to share the reexamination of his faith with the reader and is why I rate this 4 out of 4 stars. Harry’s constant struggle to reconcile two-thousand-year-old Church teachings with today’s culture make this contemporary and a must read for anyone questioning their faith.
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God Versus The Idea of God
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