Book Review: God Against The Gods
In his book, God Against The Gods: The History of the War Between Monotheism and Polytheism, Jonathan Kirsch does an excellent job of showing the reader just how much tolerance the early polytheistic belief systems had before the onset of monotheism. Even during the time of One True Wayism, the ancient pagans accepted the monotheistic beliefs. It wasn’t until the early Christians disrespected the pagan beliefs (smashing alters and statues, ect.) that things began to sour. The pagan tolerance wore thin, and the Christians suffered for it. Through the next few centuries Kirsch takes us through the tug’o'war of polytheism with monotheism…where in the end, monotheism wins out and we see the biggest purge of non-”orthodox” Christians and pagans yet.
This is a wonderfully written book on the history of when and how polytheism was overtaken and outlawed by the rigorist monotheists and their One True God and how it connects with the way the world is today (holy wars, religious intolerance, terrorists).
