A HumanShaped God, Charles Halton
A HumanShaped God, Charles Halton
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A Human-Shaped God
Theology of an Embodied God

Author: Charles Halton

Narrator: William Sarris

Unabridged: 9 hr 35 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 03/08/2022


Synopsis

A Human-Shaped God approaches the humanlike accounts of God in the Old Testament as the starting places for theology and uses them to build a picture of the divine. This understanding of God is then brought into conversation with traditional conceptions that depict God as a being who knows everything that happens, is at every place at the same time, is constant and unchanging, and does not ultimately have material form. But instead of pitting the Old Testament's humanlike view of God against traditional theology and assuming that only one of these understandings is correct, A Human-Shaped God posits that theologians should embrace both of these constructions simultaneously.

This is a new way of theological inquiry that embraces both the humanlike characteristics of God and the transcendence of God in traditional theology. By seeing and understanding the humanlike depictions of God in the Old Testament and by using the rich language of traditional theology together in tandem, the listener acquires a much deeper and meaningful understanding of God.

About Charles Halton

Charles Halton is External Affiliate at the Centre of the Social-Scientific Study of the Bible at St. Mary's University, Twickenham. He formerly served as an assistant professor of theology at Houston Baptist University, taught Old Testament and Semitic languages at Southern Seminary, and was a fellow of the Advanced Seminar in the Humanities in Venice, Italy. He was a founder, managing editor, and director of media for the Marginalia Review of Books, a magazine of intellectual culture and a channel of the Los Angeles Review of Books. He currently serves as the editor of Genesis: History, Fiction, or Neither? and coauthor, editor, and translator of Women's Writing of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Anthology of the Earliest Female Authors. He translated the cuneiform collection of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh and has contributed to various academic journals, including the Journal of Biblical Literature, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, and the Cuneiform Digital Library Notes. He has also contributed to publications including the monograph Reading Akkadian Hymns and Prayers and The Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry & Writings.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Carolyn J. Visser on January 16, 2024

Fascinating book. Anyone interested in reading modern theologians needs to read this book. Halton gives a fresh concept of God and ties the Old Testament to the New. Definitely changes how I read the Bible. Makes even the "blood-thirsty" God of the Old Testament relatable. I appreciated his thoughts......more

Goodreads review by Jason on December 27, 2021

As a product of strict evangelical theology, this book has helped me see a deconstructive path forward. I don’t have to lose my faith. I can imagine a new one that leads to love and kindness.......more

Goodreads review by Christopher on May 22, 2024

This book won the Grawemeyer Award for Religion given by the seminary I attend and we read part of the book for class. I finished it because I’m a pick me. This book provided us with some fresh perspectives on the Hebrew Bible and the body and concept of God. This was an excellent read for people ap......more

Goodreads review by Ron on January 23, 2022

I first became aware of this book while listening to a podcast with Charles Halter as the guest. It was in intriguing discussion of how one can see evidence and images throughout the Hebrew Bible of a God with a body, with emotions, with conflicting motives. Even a changing and growing God. As I rea......more

Goodreads review by Brent on February 25, 2022

What a thrill, Halton's deep dive into this topic! He starts with a thorough introduction to human embodiment - from psychological and philosophical perspectives. He then examines Biblical notions of godly embodiment from every angle - senses, emotions, cognition, character, etc. The final chapter w......more