God Against the Gods
Subtitle: The History of the War Between Monotheism and Polytheism
Publisher: Viking Adult
Published: March 8, 2004
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 336
ISBN-13: 9780670032860
Subjects: Religion - World Religions; Comparative Religion; Religion; Theism; General; Religion / Comparative Religion; History; Monotheism; Polytheism
First sentence: Something deep in human nature prompts us to imagine the existence of a power greater than ourselves, whether we call it "Yahweh" or "Christ" or "Allah," "Mother Nature" or "the Higher Power" or "the Universe."
Description: In this ... book, [the author] explores the final struggle between monotheism and polytheism in the ancient world, a war that was fought by a series of charismatic, visionary but also violent monarchs in the name of the One True God - an Egyptian pharaoh, a Jewish king, and two Roman emperors. Contrary to the conventional wisdom of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the world of classical paganism was not steeped in sin. In fact, [according to the author], religious liberty and diversity were core values of classical paganism, and it was monotheism that introduced the terrors of true belief, including holy war, martyrdom, inquisitions, and crusades.-Dust jacket.