THE UNKNOWN GOD

by Istvan et al. Racz ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 27, 1971

The theme of this rather striking book is the concept of God as formulated from the millenia of pre-literary history to the Christian God of the modern era. The work contains ten essays, each one by an authority in his field, and each one devoted to the epochal deity of a culture: Near Eastern, ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman, Hindu, Buddhist, African, ancient American, Oceanic, and Christian. The essays are complemented by photographs of contemporary artwork illustrative of the gods of that period or culture and they are uniformly good. The most interesting and original is that of Hugo Hubner on ""The Ideas of God Among African Peoples,"" in which the classic animistic interpretation is rejected and those ideas are reinterpreted as a belief in an ""uncreated energy"" which is the source of what is best in African music, dance, and sculpture. The photographs are high quality, although their subjects are -- perhaps necessarily in many instances -- commonplace. On the whole, this is an unusually worthwhile introduction to the study of religious anthropology and of comparative religions.

Pub Date: Jan. 27, 1971

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Sheed & Ward

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1971

Categories: NONFICTION