Sunday, May 6, 2012

God Against The Gods

The History of the War Between Monotheism and Polytheism...

 

God Against the Gods describes the unhappy and ultimately terminal interaction between monotheism and polytheism, especially as the latter waned under the influence of Constantine and later Roman emperors as Christianity became the state religion starting in the 4th century.  Jonathan Kirsch's book is uneven in spots, rich in others. He wears his biases on his sleeve, but writes well enough for the reader to overlook it most of the time. I'm getting to a point in my studies where I've seen a much of this books' contents elsewhere, but the manner in which the details are assembled here in a cogent whole makes God Against The Gods: The History of the War Between Monotheism and Polytheism a book worth reading.