Discovering God

Today my answer is quite different, as should be evident from the title of this book, which refers to the discovery, not to the evolution of God. Of course, cultural evolution often takes the form of discovery, whether it is sharp sticks becoming flint-headed spears or alchemy becoming chemistry. In this instance, what evolved were human conceptions of God, which also constitutes discovery if one posits that God exists. So, as to where God was in primitive times, I shall raise the possibility that he was there all along, revealing himself within the very limited capacities of humans to understand. Even so, the chapters that follow are not significantly different from what I would have written from my earlier perspective except that I am careful at key points to provide alternative interpretations, one of which assumes the existence of God. Thus, when discussing revelations in Chapter 1, I suggest the recipients might either be “externalizing” the source of their own creative genius or that they might, in fact, be hearing God. In any event, it is impossible to analyze the discovery of God, or the evolution of our images of God, outside of specific contexts. Hence, this also is an interpretive history of the origins of the great religions.