Consider this – the Shamans can be attributed with being the first politicians. Or did you know that theologians consider the story of Christ’s crucifixion true because it is such a difficult situation to fit into the belief system of the Jews at that time? Also, there is a distinct possibility that there is a genetic source for religious beliefs.
Robert Wright explores these ideas, and many others in his expansive work, The Evolution of God. Readers are provided with a multi-disciplinary text that reaps from anthropological, historical, and theological sources to create an all-encompassing study of the human race’s predisposition toward religion and deities.
The Evolution of God places religion in general – with a great deal of focus on the Abrahamic faiths – in context with their times. This may not be well received by individuals that follow a fundamentalist path in their faith. Pulling religious texts out of context is an unfortunate commonality in many faiths, so reading anything that places scriptures in their historical context may be difficult for some to handle.
Wright offers the opportunity to place faith and religions in general in a logical context based on recorded history. He also presents an interesting theory on the relationship between Judaism, Christianity and Islam. There was a time when all three coexisted, and probably interacted fairly well.
Robert Wright has offered an extremely valuable resource to anyone who has real desire to find out about the historical and anthropological roots of religious faith. The Evolution of God should be on the suggested reading list of every high school in America, and should be required reading in every college and university. It provides the context for religion that is rarely offered in any place of worship – something that is sorely needed, particularly today.
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