The God of Our Fathers. The Great Novel of the Bible

Until the time of our grandparents, people were convinced that they lived under God’s watchful eye, and his existence was as certain as the sun rising and setting. Today, we have stopped believing in him, or even thinking about him. And no one reads the Bible anymore. Yet the Bible is a wonderful book—one that can also be read as a great novel. God’s autobiography. Aldo Cazzullo does with the Bible what he had done with Dante’s Inferno: he tells us its story in a clear, accessible way, with constant references to current events and our own lives, passing through the events of history and the masterpieces of art. The creation, Adam and Eve, the expulsion from Eden, Cain and Abel, Noah and the flood. The story of Jacob, who wrestled with God, and Joseph, who interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams. Moses, the plagues of Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, the Ten Commandments. And then the conquest of the Promised Land, from Joshua conquering Jericho to David cutting off Goliath’s head, from Samson, the mighty hero betrayed by the woman he loved, to Solomon, who built the temple. Cazzullo recalls stories with a thousand-year-old allure. And he tells of the great women of the Bible, from Judith to Esther; the angel who saves Tobit and the devil who torments Job; the love celebrated in the Song of Songs and the disillusionment of Ecclesiastes (“all is vanity”). Until the great hope of the coming of a messiah who comes to save humanity and raise us to eternal life, who for Christians is Jesus. HarperCollins Editions