Laurence Gardner - New Book - The Origin of God

Belief in the One male God of Judaism, Christianity and Islãm can be traced back for something over 2,500 years to the time when the Hebrew scripture of Genesis was compiled in the 6th century BC. The narrative content of Genesis was clearly derived from older traditions but, on the face of it, we have no documentary evidence from any other source of a monotheistic culture in respect of this particular God from before that date.

The Origin of God undertakes a biographical exploration of the deiform character variantly known as Yahweh, Allãh, or simply The Lord. It seeks to uncover and evaluate his original identity, as against his eventual religiously motivated portrayals. Then, following the course of his story into biblical scripture, we discover a strategy of pure literary evolution.

Laurence Gardner has left us yet another masterpiece in his new book The Origin of God. www.goldenageproject.org.uk

• If there was nothing before God created everything, then where was God before that? Where did he come from?

• If the Bible had never been written, would we know about God from any more original source?

• Did the Israelite scribes invent God for some reason, or did they have access to earlier records concerning him? If so, what were they?

• So, from where precisely did the Israelites of that era glean their knowledge of events and characters from thousands of years before – events which, following the brief account of God’s earthly creation, begin in the book of Genesis with the story of Adam and Eve?

• Is there an intelligent, supernatural entity in the universe – or is the concept just an abiding superstition?

• The Lord said unto Moses: ‘I am El Shaddai, the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’.

• Who, what and why is God? Who was El Shaddai? When did his tradition begin? How did it evolve?