God: An Anatomy - As heard on Radio 4

Very brave book with really fantastic twist. It is a great story going all the way from the most primitive and most simple ideas of God's all the way to transcended concepts. Very neatly binding Christianity, Judaism and Arabic cultures and their stories,taking everything from their roots

For all of those who, like me, have ever wondered if God has teeth (and if so, why), here is the unequivocal answer. Yes, he does have teeth, and everything else associated with being a corporeal being. Stavrakopoulou assesses the Biblical God, or Yahweh, as unflinchingly as a pathologist would conduct a post-mortem. Her book is full of the most intimate and occasionally squirm-worthy details about every aspect of his being. Drawing on a wealth of knowledge about Middle Eastern religions and mythology, with a deep familiarity with the Bible in all its forms and incarnations, and with a heady disregard for the sensibilities of Jews and Christians alike (she is an atheist) she comprehensively demolishes the idea that before the modern age God was ever viewed as a non-corporeal essence of the universe. On page after page she relentlessly pours out the evidence, chiefly from the Bible itself, that Yahweh was by origin - and before Jewish and Christian reformers got their hands on him - very much a living, breathing, talking, fighting, fornicating and defecating being; and that he was not alone in the pantheon and even had a wife or consort (Ashurat). Stavrakopoulou has a commanding prose style that she deploys to magnificent effect. Her erudition is never in doubt, although I feel sure that other feet have trodden this path before, more delicately perhaps. Her account is at times mesmeric, even overwhelming, and I felt the need occasionally to surface for air. But this is a tour de force and deeply compelling, even if modern theologians might still cavil at some of her claims. She makes an excellent case that the 'true' (corporeal) God was killed not by nineteenth-century existentialists and sceptics but by his own advocates and priests, a process that began in the fifth century BC and was consolidated and made mainstream by St Paul and those who followed him. The book is not without its minor faults. Stavrakopoulou's habit of beginning nearly every chapter with a mini-travelogue soon becomes wearying. I could also have done without her ten-page polemic against European colonialism and the slave trade, which (whether one agrees with it or not) sits very awkwardly within the context of her overall narrative. Set against her otherwise measured and scholarly approach it is even more jarring. Finally, I wish she had found a different structure for her book. Her approach is to divide it up into sections that each deal with a distinct part of God's anatomy (feet, legs, genitals and so on). The facts and arguments she presents about each of these is persuasive but there are inevitably some repetitions, and as it is a long book the cumulative effect is to make the book less digestible than it might have been if she had chosen a different structure: for instance, an historical unfolding of God's presentation as a corporeal entity, seen through the internal evidence of the Bible but tempered by what we currently know about the circumstances and dating of the Bible's composition. None of this detracts from what is a brilliant and welcome corrective to the mainstream Christian view of the deity.

This obviously isn't a book for me. I went into my little reading adventure with the thought that the information would enhance my understanding of ancient cultures and their deities. Well, clearly, this body of work achieves that goal, but having read about 250 pages, I am thoroughly bored and struggling to maintain any interest whatsoever.I have likely over-exposed myself to these topics over the years and have zero enthusiasm nowadays.On the plus side, the book is well written and I deducted one star for the tedium I felt amidst accounts of tired old dusty gods and long dead people on this rock, who likely squandered their short and often hard lives, on their knees, in dedication to mumbo jumbo and his or her pals.And yes I know, these deities, dedications, shrines, events, rituals and icons - are often used as anchoring devices and have had utility in that sense. Blah blah blah.I can understand the why of our fascination when pursuing religious ritual, but the bigger part of me, who feels detached from all of this, has encouraged me to close the book and walk away.Maybe I'll go back one day. Dunno.

The research and how easy it is to read make this a great contribution to all interested in the subject of God. I found her whole approach enthralling.

I listened to a podcast with the author recently, and was struck by the deep expertise on show. I decided to take the plunge and buy the book - a very unusual choice for me (usually science or Japanese art) but wow wow wo. What a brilliantly insightful, meticulously researched, and downright thought-provoking book, answering questions I have often wondered (why is New Testament God so different from the warlike Old Testament) and others I know I thought, but never verbalised. An amazing book - if you are REMOTELY interested in ancient history or religious history or just curious as to where God originates in teachings and through history, then this is the book for you.

Francesca Stavrakopolou, unlike many scholars, can write engagingly. She sets each chapter up with an anecdotal or experiential description, setting an atmospheric scene which makes the book quite accessible. I like her form and her exegeses a great deal. I've learned much iconography from reading this. The book gets a five from me.But the binding fell apart from page 51 to the middle of the excellent color plates, darn it! I have to handle this book carefully now, lest the rest of it fall apart.

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Rarely is a display of erudition so much fun. I am aware of the historical importance of the Bible, but being a secular individual, have never quite plunged into theological debates. As for most of us onlookers from the periphery, the notion of the Bible God being incorporeal seems about right, and maybe only the Sistine Chapel representation makes us thing of a humanlike representation. Then, Ms. Stavrakopoulou enters the frame with this exquisitely argued book, and takes us on ride from tip to toe (in reverse, actually) through the deity’s body as was originally understood and written. The depth of her knowledge, and the thoroughness of her research, do not hinder her storytelling abilities, which she enhances with occasional displays of a delightful sense of humour. I loved this book.

Isn't it so often the case that you're told a story and asked to believe it, but when you dig into it, you realize that the truth behind the tale is infinitely more interesting than the narrative of the story itself? That was my experience of God An Anatomy!I'd always found canonical and non-canonical Jewish and Christian texts to be fascinating, but to be taken on a journey of honest exploration by someone as talented and knowledgeable as Dr Stavrakopoulou opened my eyes to a far more interesting layer than the one we hear about in churches or propaganda pieces on the Internet.Beautifully written, academically correct and honest, it is of course a difficult read if one considers the New Testament and Hebrew Bible to be inerrant. Nevertheless, the picture which is painted is far more believable in its humanity than the substance of the myth.It was very enjoyable and eye-opening on a subject which we all know about but whose historical and archaeological truths have seldom been told to the public.