description: Treating the Bible as a literary text is a standard approach in certain areas of scholarship. Jack Miles' innovation is to treat God as the main protagonist of this literary work, and to analyze his "character" as revealed in the text. Miles, a former Jesuit who studied in Rome and Jerusalem, and has a doctorate in Near Eastern languages, analyzed the Hebrew Bible (for the most part like the Old Testament, but ordered differently) to arrive at his literary exegesis. This God, it is clear, is certainly a complex character. Undoubtedly male, but possessed of seemingly multiple personalities, He is alternately creator/destroyer, protector/executioner, and warrior/lawgiver. Miles' "reading" of God, whose proactive role at the beginning develops into a passive silent presence, is entertaining, thoughtful and a worthy winner of the 1996 Pulitzer Prize.
language: English
title: God: A Biography
titlecomplete: God: A Biography
genres: Religion, Theology, Biography, Philosophy, Spirituality, God, Judaism, Nonfiction, History, Christianity
ratings_count: 2485
series: God in Three Classic Scriptures
awards: awardedAt: 820483200000
name: Pulitzer Prize
category: Biography or Autobiography
publisher: Random House Value Publishing