God: An Anatomy - As heard on Radio 4 by Francesca Stavrakopoulou Hardcover Book

Description: God by Francesca Stavrakopoulou A fascinating, surprising and often controversial examination of the real God of the Bible, in all his bodily, uncensored, scandalous forms. FORMAT Hardcover CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description As heard on BBC Radio 4s Book of the Week . . .Rivetingly fresh and stunning Sunday TimesA tour de force, a triumph Catholic HeraldOne of the most remarkable historians and communicators working today Dan SnowThree thousand years ago, in the Southwest Asian lands we now call Israel and Palestine, a group of people worshipped a complex pantheon of deities, led by a father god called El. El had seventy children, who were gods in their own right. One of them was a minor storm deity, known as Yahweh. Yahweh had a body, a wife, offspring and colleagues. He fought monsters and mortals. He gorged on food and wine, wrote books, and took walks and naps. But he would become something far larger and far more abstract: the God of the great monotheistic religions.But as Professor Francesca Stavrakopoulou reveals, Gods cultural DNA stretches back centuries before the Bible was written, and persists in the tics and twitches of our own society, whether we are believers or not. The Bible has shaped our ideas about God and religion, but also our cultural preferences about human existence and experience; our concept of life and death; our attitude to sex and gender; our habits of eating and drinking; our understanding of history. Examining Gods body, from his head to his hands, feet and genitals, she shows how the Western idea of God developed. She explores the places and artefacts that shaped our view of this singular God and the ancient religions and societies of the biblical world. And in doing so she analyses not only the origins of our oldest monotheistic religions, but also the origins of Western culture.Beautifully written, passionately argued and frequently controversial, God: An Anatomy is cultural history on a grand scale. Author Biography Professor Francesca Stavrakopoulou studied theology at Oxford and is currently Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Religion at the University of Exeter. The author of a number of academic works, she also presented the BBC 2 documentary series The Bibles Buried Secrets. She regularly appears on BBC1s The Big Questions and Sunday Morning Live, and has appeared on several Radio 4 shows, including Womans Hour, The Infinite Monkey Cage and The Museum of Curiosity. She writes for the Guardian, the Mail on Sunday, and the Times Literary Supplement, and has spoken about the Bible, religion, and atheism at numerous public events, including the Cheltenham Science Festival, the World Humanist Congress, and Conway Halls annual London Thinks festival. Her contribution (on the same subject as the book) to Dan Snows History Hits podcast is currently its most popular ever episode. Review A learned but rollicking journey through every aspect of Yahwehs body. A book that will offend some but delight more. * Economist Best Books of the Year *Lively . . . [with] a wealth of scholarly detail and much gusto -- Rowan Williams * New Statesman *Rivetingly fresh and stunning . . . I rather like this inexhaustibly powerful, shouting, bearded giant of a God, a fiery, fierce and startlingly "pagan" God, alive to his very fingertips, laughing at human hubris and singing with unbridled joy. -- Christopher Hart * Sunday Times *A marvelous conspectus of references to the divine body in ancient southwest Asian texts. But more than this, it is about recalibrating our understanding of these difficult texts to better understand ourselves. -- Simon Yarrow * Literary Review *Professors of Theology are imagined to be dull, gentle souls. This book, however, is a great rebel shout . . . A book that aims to upend the notion of a cloudy, spiritualised creator . . . instructive, vivid and frequently hilarious. * Economist *Stavrakopoulou is no literalist — indeed, shes an atheist — but she maintains that her reading makes far more sense than the traditional ones, and her confident tone never falters. -- Dan Hitchens * The Times *God: An Anatomy is a tour de force. Stavrakopoulou has created not just an extraordinarily rich and nuanced portrait of Yahweh himself, but an intricate and detailed account of the cultural values and practices he embodied, and the wider world of myth and history out of which he emerged . . . Stavrakopoulou has taken to heart the biblical injunction to seek the face of God, and what emerges is a deity more terrifyingly alive, more damaged, more compelling, more complex than we have encountered before. More human, you might say. -- Mathew Lyons * New Humanist *A detailed and scrupulously researched book . . . packed with knowledge and insight -- Karen Armstrong * The New York Times *Boldly simple in concept, God: An Anatomy is stunning in its execution. It is a tour de force, a triumph, and I write this as one who disagrees with Stavrakopoulou both on broad theoretical grounds and one who finds himself engaged with her in one narrow textual spat after another . . . A stunning book. -- Jack Miles * Catholic Herald *The sheer amount of primary evidence examined is staggering . . . Stavrakopoulous argumentation is intellectually penetrating, analytically robust, and sophisticated . . . Stavrakopoulous book, and her public-facing scholarship, demonstrate what makes an outstanding biblical scholar. * Church Times *Good Lord, Stavrakopoulou touches that sweet spot that is scholarly, funny, visceral and heavenly. A revelation. -- Adam Rutherford, author of A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived and How to Argue with a RacistOne of the most remarkable historians and communicators working today. -- Dan SnowIn both Judaism and Christianity God is conceived as non-physical. In God: An Anatomy Francesca Stavrakopoulou shows that this was not yet so in the Bible, where God appears in a much more corporeal form. This provocative work will surprise and may shock, but it brings to light aspects of the biblical account of God that modern readers seldom appreciate. -- John Barton, Emeritus Professor at Oriel College, Oxford and author of A History of the BibleIn Stavrakopoulous stunning dissection of historical religious texts, the real back-story and context of the God of Judaism and Christianity is revealed . . . Where pious theologians have abstracted him into emptiness, Stavrakopolou gives him back his substance, and hes so much more interesting in this bodily form! Both scholarly and accessible, and full of fascinating stories - I guarantee youll never think of this God the same way again. -- Professor Alice RobertsMarvelous and stimulating . . . scholarly and beautifully illustrated . . . an exciting read! * Methodist Recorder *This is an extraordinary book. Itll rewire your thinking, and its so readable you wont notice till its too late. -- Tim Whitmarsh, author of Battling the GodsWell-researched . . . A refreshing look at ancient Scripture and the people behind it, reminding readers that the concept of God in the 21st century is a world away from that of the earliest people of Israel. A challenging, engaging work of scholarship that sheds new light on ancient Hebrew conceptions of the divine. * Kirkus Reviews * Promotional A fascinating, surprising and often controversial examination of the real God of the Bible, in all his bodily, uncensored, scandalous forms. Review Quote In both Judaism and Christianity God is conceived as non-physical. In God: An Anatomy Francesca Stavrakopoulou shows that this was not yet so in the Bible, where God appears in a much more corporeal form. This provocative work will surprise and may shock, but it brings to light aspects of the biblical account of God that modern readers seldom appreciate. Promotional "Headline" A fascinating, surprising and often controversial examination of the real God of the Bible, in all his bodily, uncensored, scandalous forms. Details ISBN1509867333 Author Francesca Stavrakopoulou Publisher Pan Macmillan Year 2021 ISBN-10 1509867333 ISBN-13 9781509867332 Format Hardcover Publication Date 2021-09-16 UK Release Date 2021-09-16 Audience Age 18 Imprint Picador Place of Publication London Country of Publication United Kingdom Pages 608 Illustrations 16pp colour plates & b/w line drawings Subtitle An Anatomy - As heard on Radio 4 DEWEY 231 Audience General AU Release Date 2022-02-07 NZ Release Date 2022-02-07 We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:133183380;

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