Jews, God and History Book

Well written, interesting, not dry or academic non-fiction. This book starts with history so old it is barely described in the Bible. I suppose the author is Jewish but this is not a religious book and it covers the birth of Christianity, its ups and downs and the same for Islamic history objectively. In the early days the three seem like fluid sloshing back and forth in a bucket - then the barbarians attack.

As an example of his non-religious take on things: "We shall ask the same question at this point as we asked at the time Abraham encountered God: "Did this really happen?" We shall answer it the same way. From a historical viewpoint it makes no difference whether Christ actually appeared to Paul or whether Paul had a hallucination experience. The fact remains that for two thousand years this account of Paul's conversion has played a dominant role in the Christian religion. This is the reality we must deal with for this is the reality which creates history."

The author assumes you are familiar with a wide range of other history and draws parallels to help you see his point. On a book of biblical commentary called the Mishna, "The Shamai interpretations tended to be more conservative and sectarian; Hillel's more liberal and universal. This dual struggle in Jewish life during the first century BC resembles the American Hamiltonian - Jeffersonian struggle in the nineteenth century AD, with Shamai representing the Hamiltonian and Hillel the Jeffersonian ideals." Very good analogies if you accept his premises.

I thought he did a good job differentiating violence against Jews and antisemitism. I was sorry that the book was written so long ago (1962). I wish there was a sequel.