God: A Human History

　　前作《革命分子耶穌》帶來未被神化的史實耶穌
　　雷薩‧阿斯蘭今回直搗「神」的誕生演變
　　再度挑戰我們的信仰認知與觀點

　　從遠古人類精神寄託的起源、信仰的行動到「神」的概念出現並以其名創造整個世界，「神」的觀念如何隨著人類演化變動，從具有人類特徵情感到以單一的個性存在？阿斯蘭以大家熟知的耶和華、天父與阿拉為例，探討關於神性的本質。

　　身為曾信仰伊斯蘭與基督教的研究者，他以方法論上的不可知論出發，拋開所謂「神」的真相，以探索人類如何相信神、人性化他們、神化人性，以及穿越時代構想神的理論。阿斯蘭擅長將嚴肅的學術理論轉化為讀者易懂的散文，任何一個對宗教感興趣的普通讀者，都會發現上帝或神的觀念，皆是根據地理、經濟、政治和社會背景進行演化和改變的。

　　秉持阿斯蘭無懼的求知精神，God: A Human History挑戰我們所知關於宗教起源的所有面向，以及以此發展出的生死關係。我們也將重新審視宗教塑造的自然與精神世界，和其對人類存在的探尋、本質的解答。

　　「以驚人的討論範圍與爭議的主張，God: A Human History 展示人類祖先如何以他們獨有的圖像創造神祇，並認為現在人類應當停止了。充滿精力與才華的文筆，我們期待已久的著作，雷薩‧阿斯蘭再次出版了一本激起迴響與打破假設的書。」-- How Jesus Became God 作者Bart D. Ehrman


　　The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Zealot and host of Believer explores humanity’s quest to make sense of the divine, and sounds a call to embrace a deeper, more expansive understanding of God.
 
　　In Zealot, Reza Aslan replaced the well-worn portrayal of Jesus of Nazareth with a startling new image of the man in all his contradictions. In his new book, Aslan takes on a subject even more immense: God, writ large.
 
　　In layered prose and with thoughtful, accessible scholarship, Aslan narrates the history of religion as one long and remarkably cohesive attempt to understand the divine by giving it human traits and emotions. According to Aslan, this innate desire to humanize God is hardwired in our brains, making it a central feature of nearly every religious tradition. As Aslan writes, “Whether we are aware of it or not, and regardless if we are believers or not, what the vast majority of us think about when we think about God is a divine version of ourselves.”
 
　　But this projection is not without consequences. We bestow upon God not just all that is good in human nature—our compassion, our thirst for justice—but all that is bad in it: our greed, our bigotry, our penchant for violence. All these qualities inform our religions, cultures, and governments.
 
　　More than just a history of our understanding of God, this book is an attempt to get to the root of this humanizing impulse in order to develop a more universal spirituality, unencumbered by the urge to impose human characteristics upon the divine.
 
　　Whether you believe in one God, many gods, or no god at all, God: A Human History will transform the way you think about the divine and its role in our everyday lives.

作者簡介

雷薩‧阿斯蘭（Reza Aslan）

　　伊朗裔美國作家。出生於伊朗，從小跟隨家庭傳統信奉伊斯蘭教。移民美國後，他參加了福音青年營，深受上帝吸引，改信基督教。但在鑽研聖經時，他發現其中有許多矛盾與不合理之處；上大學研讀宗教史之後，對聖經更加質疑。他因此拋棄基督教信仰，重回伊斯蘭教的懷抱。隨後他轉以學者的身分研究耶穌，在經過二十年的嚴謹研究之後，如今他更信從耶穌了，只不過他信仰的是身為凡人的拿撒勒人耶穌，而非做為神的基督耶穌。

　　阿斯蘭目前為加州大學河濱分校創意寫作系及宗教系合聘助理教授，長期關注宗教史，擁有哈佛大學神學碩士學位、加州大學聖塔芭芭拉分校宗教社會學博士學位以及愛荷華大學美術系碩士學位。

　　Reza Aslan is an acclaimed writer and scholar of religions whose books include No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam and Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. He is also the author of How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization, and the End of the War on Terror (published in paperback as Beyond Fundamentalism), as well as the editor of Tablet & Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three sons.