Fascinating book. Miles is very well-read and good with words. And he did not shy away from showing it. :)

Here's my take: God: A Biography

'Jack Miles has set himself the somewhat controversial task of charting the ‘development’ of God in the Hebrew Bible, capturing His life in it from beginning to end. Laying no claim to any theological or historical truth, and interested only how it works as a piece of writing the ‘Biography of God’ will leave mesmerised all those who read it.

...'

Very interesting if you're into literary criticism

As a generally non-religious person, here's my diagnosis: God is moody, violent and schizophrenic, but mostly because he wants people to do things right and they endlessly do exactly the opposite of that. And that's just the people in the Bible! We might be due for another flood soon

Read bits for
Intriguing information, but the author's prose is particularly dry and repetitive at times which makes the book hard to get to at times.
Otherwise, the analysis of God as a literary character is an analysis not often considered by individuals. Thus, Jack Miles' insights are unique and interesting to think about and may help us understand the motivations and character progression of God within the Old Testament/Tanakh.

Miles creates a mirror of the character of God based on the text in the Tanakh, which is the Old Testament in Christian terms. He analyses every text where God is the speaker, or where God is directly addressed. From Genesis where we are introduced to God as the Creator, His character evolves to eventually become a God who cares about the poor, the widow and the destitute. I experienced it as a fascinating journey of learning and of seeing the Bible through new eyes.

Miles writes in beautiful prose. It must be a huge advantage to be able to read the Bible in the original language, which the layman has to go without. Here and there Miles demonstrates how much lies in the interpretation of the old text, which I found enlightening. I think this book will be interesting to many who were brought up knowing the Bible in a traditional sense.

“Everything redounds to the Lord God’s credit. Everything also redounds to his blame. He has no cosmic opponent but himself. No one can escape him, and he cannot escape himself.”

RATING: 3.5

This is a fascinating concept -looking at God as a literary character and then seeing how that affects (or doesn't affect) our perspective and understanding of him. Comprehensive, well researched, straightforward in its approach, full of interesting ideas, and at times even bold and provocative.

What brings it down a little bit is this book reads more like a dissertation than anything, with its extensive annotations and author Jack Miles clearly drawing out certain sections for length rather than clarity ("academic writing" to pad your paper, haha). And while Miles is clearly an expert, his enthusiasm for certain aspects of the text translates as more esoteric than enlightening.

In short, this book is sometimes a chore, but is overall worth it for basically anyone who grew up in or is interested in Western culture.

اقترح لي أبي قراءة الكتاب مع تحذير انه لم ينهِ قراءته خوفًا من الغرق في الافكار ، انه كتاب يبدو في بدايته مرعب و مليئ بالمغالطات التي ترعبك و لكن حين تكمل القراءة تستنتج انه كتاب مسيحي بحت يشرح فيه الكاتب عن الاله كشخصية أدبية، عنوان الكتاب يحمل غلط واضح حث كان من المفترض ان يكون العنوان سيرة الإله بدلا من الله.
لم انهِ قرائته لانني جاهلة في الجانب المسيحي، و ارتأيي ان احمل جهدي في البحث و القراءة في الجانب الاسلامي، التقوية الايمانية الثقافية ازكى من البحث و التفتيش في ديانات أخرى.

Miles looks at the Hebrew Tanakh (similar, but not identical to, the Old Testament) as a literary text and views God as a literary character. It's a fascinating approach; I learned a great deal, both about the Bible (like, God's conversation with Job is the last time God speaks in the Hebrew Tanakh; Miles has some very interesting observations about this). It's information-dense; this isn't a quick read, so be prepared to take your time.
FMI see my blog post at A Just Recompense.

I've owned this book for years, but only just gathered the courage to dive in. I guess the Pulitzer should have tipped me off to the quality of the author, but it's been a very pleasant surprise.

What I like most is that Miles introduces God as history's most compelling novel character, whose personality shifts and changes in each new chapter. For example, we see both wrathful God and whiny God.

Miles argues that insight from reading about God from this perspective casts light on the central motivations of the Western personality, what you and I walk around with carried in our subconscious everyday.

Still reading, will update.

Here we have an unique perspective of someone who doesn't appear to be a man of faith, within the book Miles considers God purely as a literary character that evolves in the unfolding of the canon as ordered in the Tanakh. If Miles is even close to correct in his reading of the Hebrew bible, the God that Jews and Christians worship has very little in common with the extremely ambiguous, amoral and multi-personalitied deity that he thinks the ancient writers conveyed. Towards the end of the book, Miles briefly retold the story of the Tanakh as it might be told if the Hebrews were polytheist, which would make it where the different personalities, motivations, intentions and moral tendencies would be found in different homogeneous gods, I found this part to interesting. Miles writes how since the Hebrews, believed in one God, the many different portraits are conglomerated into one, resulting in a very ambiguous being, one who is occasionally good and while at other times evil; a very unstable God with a divide self. Miles also details the progression of a God that seems to have no back story, or identity outside of man who he made in his own image. Within the story God acts, kills, kills some more, promises, reneges, kills some more, regrets, recalculates, readjust, viciously retaliates, only to eventually begin to fade, after being shown to be unjust be Job. Towards the close of the Tanakh, God comes comes reclusive, and inconsequential as the divine tragedy comes to a close.
I thought some of Miles interpretations seemed tenuous at best, occasionally I felt he suppressed some evidence, and he definitely gave certain passages a very negative spin. Though I think Mile's goes too far in his very uncharitable interpretation of the God portrayed in the Hebrew Scriptures, I still think he does bring to light some things that are actually there, things which the majority of Christians can't see, because the presupposition of the love and justice of God, means one automatically give the Old Testament a positive wholesome spin.

A unique and absolutely fascinating analysis of God's progression as a literary character in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). Jack Miles wields his formidable erudition to pull together themes and threads from the text that bring the biblical narrative into clear focus. The Bible, and God's character within it, make so much more sense in the light of Miles' observations. Highly, highly recommended.