An Atheist's History of Belief
Understanding Our Most Extraordinary Invention
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
The atheist’s poetic synopsis of the history of spirituality and religion from the Man Booker shortlisted author of English Passengers
What first prompted prehistoric man, sheltering in the shadows of deep caves, to call upon the realm of the spirits? And why has belief thrived since, shaping thousands of generations of shamans, pharaohs, Aztec priests and Mayan rulers, Jews, Buddhists, Christians, Nazis, and Scientologists?
As our dreams and nightmares have changed over the millennia, so have our beliefs. The gods we created have evolved and mutated with us through a narrative fraught with human sacrifice, political upheaval and bloody wars.
Belief was man's most epic labor of invention. It has been our closest companion, and has followed mankind across the continents and through history.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Yet another atheism title attempts to make the reader "forget Dawkins or Hitchens," as this book's publisher suggests, and render skepticism understandable. And British writer Kneale accomplishes just that in his lively look at the history of religious belief, from ancient humanity to the 20th century. The author succeeds not because he formulates sharper theories or ideas about non-belief, but because he barely mentions non-belief at all. Where other authors, like those apostles of atheism, Dawkins and Hitchens, have become bestsellers by condemning religion and haranguing its followers, Kneale takes a more gentle, reasoned approach. He views religion as the invention of cultures seeking to assuage their various fears and insecurities. That's not a new tack scholars have long studied religion in the context of its inventors' needs and aspirations. But Kneale, a novelist whose English Passengers (2000) was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, brings to this angle a storyteller's, rather than an academic's, touch. It's a pleasant read, just not a very hardline atheistic one.
