March 2023 MBR The Religion/Spirituality Shelf

The Religion/Spirituality Shelf

A God of Our Invention
Daniel Kohanski
Apocryphile Press
https://apocryphilepress.com
9781958061183, $20.00, PB, 326pp

https://www.amazon.com/God-Our-Invention-Religion-Western/dp/1958061182

Synopsis: Daniel Kohanski has spent decades working on problems of religion. Starting from a solid background in Conservative Judaism, he has studied law, Talmud, history, philosophy. He has researched the sources and pored over the scholarship and gotten much help from scholars along the way.

With the publication of "A God of Our Invention: How Religion Shaped the Western World", Kohanski is a compelling analysis of two major Abrahamic religions: Judaism and Christianity.

"A God of Our Invention" takes the reader from the gods of the Ancient Near East to the modern threat of global climate change. It explains how one of those ancient nations, the Israelites, came up with an idea of a single God who rules over all, and how Christians used (and misused) Jewish ideas to become the leading power in Europe and to dominate much of the world.

"A God of Our Invention" explains: How Nebuchadnezzar's destruction of Jerusalem led to the Israelites' believing in one god; When the Jews began to believe in personal immortality and judgment after death; Why the Roman conquest of Judaea was critical to the birth of Christianity; Why the Jews have always been indifferent to Jesus - and why Christians can't accept that; How Christians went from being pacifists to calling for holy war; How the insistence that the world is about to end has impacted the way we deal with sex, life, death, and global climate change; How doubt and reality combined to break Christianity's hold on power.

"A God of Our Invention" is an ideal information resource for anyone who has questions about western religion but doesn't know where to start looking for answers. If you want to know why religion has such an impact on your life when you're not religious, or how religion can still do good in the world, "A God of Our Invention" is the place to start.

Critique: Informatively enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of an Appendix (Dating the Book of Daniel), an eight page Chronology of Events, twenty-eight pages of Notes, a six page listing of Primary Sources, 20 pages of References, and a eight page Index, "A God of Our Invention: How Religion Shaped the Western World" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $6.99) and is unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, seminary, synagogue, college, and university library Judaic & Christian Studies collections.\

Editorial Note: Daniel Kohanski (https://thehumanist.com/contributor/daniel-kohanski) is a computer programmer, a retired Foreign Service officer, and a lifelong student of religious history.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

The Midwest Book Review is an organization of volunteers committed to promoting literacy, library usage, and small press publishing. We accept no funds from authors or publishers. Full permission is given to post any of these reviews on thematically appropriate websites, newsgroups, listserves, internet discussion groups, organizational newsletters, or to interested individuals. Please give the Midwest Book Review a credit line when doing so.

The Midwest Book Review publishes the monthly book review magazines "California Bookwatch", "Internet Bookwatch", "Children's Bookwatch", "MBR Bookwatch", "Reviewer's Bookwatch", and "Small Press Bookwatch". All are available for free on the Midwest Book Review website at www (dot) midwestbookreview (dot) com

Anyone wanting to submit books for review consideration can send them to:

James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive
Oregon, WI 53575-1129

To submit reviews of any fiction or non-fiction books, email them to Frugalmuse (at) aol (dot) com (Be sure to include the book title, author, publisher, publisher address, publisher website/phone number, 13-digit ISBN number, and list price).

James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review