Before God

<p>Long before the rise of Judaism Christianity and Islam humanity's relationship with the divine was shaped by countless gods goddesses spirits and ancestors. Before God: The Origins of Belief is a sweeping narrative history that traces the evolution of religious thought from prehistoric cave rituals and animism to the great polytheistic civilizations of Mesopotamia Egypt Greece Rome India the Norse Africa and the Americas. It explores how shamans bridged the seen and unseen how temples rose as architectural prayers and how myths of fertility death and cosmic order guided the daily lives of entire peoples.</p><p></p><p>Moving through the mysteries of the Maya and Inca the philosophies of Plato and the Stoics the dualism of Zoroaster and the syncretism of the Hellenistic age the book shows how humanity's search for meaning gradually prepared the soil for monotheism. Rather than dismissing the gods of the past Before God reveals how their echoes still resonate in modern religions reminding us that the One was born from the Many.</p><p></p><p>Richly detailed respectful of its subjects and global in scope this book offers both a history of religions and a history of humanity itself-our endless striving to understand the sacred and our place within the cosmos.</p>