God, who has changed the lives--and deaths--of men and women, has in turn changed His face and His meaning several times over since His birth three thousand years ago. He may have kept the same name throughout, but God has been addressed in many different ways and cannot be said to have the same characteristics in the year 500 bc as in 400 ad or in the twenty-first century, nor is He the same entity in Jerusalem or Constantinople as in Rome or New York. The omnipotent and punitive God of the Hebrews is not the consoling and intimate God of the Christians, and is certainly not identical with the impersonal cosmic Energy of the New Agers. Regis Debray's purpose in this major new book is to trace the episodes of the genesis of God, His itinerary and the costs of His survival. Debray shifts the spotlight away from the theological foreground and moves it backstage to the machinery of divine production by going back, from the Law, to the Tablets themselves and by scrutinizing Heaven at its most down-to-earth. Throughout this beautifully illustrated book, he is able to focus his attention not just on what was written, but on how it was written: with what tools, on what surface, for what social purpose and in what physical environment. God: An Itinerary takes the reader from the invention of a God for nomadic cattle herders to a world dominated by God's own moralizing 'cowboys'. In doing so, it links the history of the Everlasting with the history of the West, illuminating both in the process, and throwing light on contemporary civilisation itself.
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"As Debray has read everything that one should read on this subject, trust him. If you have forgotten the origins of the Tower of Babel, if you don't remember the travels of St. Paul, or if you don't know the historic structure of the Roman Curia, his book will get you up to speed. It is not even out of the question that it might make you reread that old unusable classic: the Bible. Because far from losing himself in the thicket of erudition, Debray knows how to touch on the essential." -- Le Monde "[Debray's account] is very well done, engaging, both impertinent and respectful ... Debray is without doubt the writer who best combines verbal brio with the demands of academic discourse." - Le Nouvel Observer "From beginning to end, Regis Debray's demonstration is dazzling." - Lire
About the Author
Regis Debray teaches philosophy at the Universite de Lyon-III and is director of the European Institute of the History and Science of Religion at the Ecole pratique des hautes etudes. He is the author of a government report on the teaching of the history of religion in France's public schools, as well as many books including Critiques of Political Reason, Teachers, Writers, Celebrities and Media Manifestos all published by Verso.
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10 Feb 2008
By Henry Porter
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This book is not for the fainthearted or the intellectually insecure. It is HARD WORK; every paragraph, every page will require setting aside some time to reflect on what Debray is saying. In minor part this is perhaps due to some difficulties in translation; but in far greater part these required - and rewarding - reflections are the result of contact with the towering genius of the author. Many persons (and certainly this reviewer) may approach Debray with certain reservations, the result of unanswered questions about Debray's proximity to the murder of Che Guevara; those concerns are simply and quickly forgotten, as they have no relevance to Debray's subject.
This is not a book of history so much as it is a book of historiography. Persons who have been seduced by that rather arcane field will find themselves in awe of Debray's remarkable talent for research, exploration, and exposition, but reading and understanding the work requires a firm hold on rationality. Debray's central question is "How is it possible for God to be younger than His creations?", which, more than a simple question, reflects a startling way to view to the world. More important, however, are the answers...which go a great distance in explaining who we are and how we got to this level of species screwed-up-ness. The bad news is that it takes work to understand; the good news is that it is well worth it. And for the cost-conscious among us, a happy plus: prices for the book have fallen - an indicator of the difficulty of thought, not of value - and one can scarf up on copies at a ridiculously low price. Reading the book may or may not contribute (or detract) from one's understanding of the nature of deities: but it will most certainly facilitate clarity of thought... and foster a new appreciation of historiography, perhaps the most difficult of the social sciences.
This is not a book of history so much as it is a book of historiography. Persons who have been seduced by that rather arcane field will find themselves in awe of Debray's remarkable talent for research, exploration, and exposition, but reading and understanding the work requires a firm hold on rationality. Debray's central question is "How is it possible for God to be younger than His creations?", which, more than a simple question, reflects a startling way to view to the world. More important, however, are the answers...which go a great distance in explaining who we are and how we got to this level of species screwed-up-ness. The bad news is that it takes work to understand; the good news is that it is well worth it. And for the cost-conscious among us, a happy plus: prices for the book have fallen - an indicator of the difficulty of thought, not of value - and one can scarf up on copies at a ridiculously low price. Reading the book may or may not contribute (or detract) from one's understanding of the nature of deities: but it will most certainly facilitate clarity of thought... and foster a new appreciation of historiography, perhaps the most difficult of the social sciences.
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