Jack Miles - God, A Biography

Has anyone read this book? Is it any good? What is Jack Miles’ reputation as a scholar?

I wasn’t sure if this should be in here or IMHO because it is about religion and reputation.

I read this some years ago and found it fascinating.

If you’re looking for rigorous biblical scholarship, this is not the book for you. The book is more of a literary analysis that basically takes the Tanakh as-is as a description of the main character “God”. For example, in reconciling the two creation myths at the start of Genesis, he (IIRC) posits two contradictory aspects of God’s personality (he of course mentions the fact that the seam between the two is most likely due to a conflation of source material, but for his project he acts as though they describe the same person). Based only on this book, he appears to be intelligent and well-versed in contemporary Biblical scholarship

Overall the book held my attention quite well. I particularly liked the chapter on God’s character in the book of Job, whom he analyzes as standing up to and even mocking God, a feat which renders God silent for the rest of the Tanakh (if you are a Christian, you may have to get used to the different ordering of the Bible books). Also liked his pathetic review of Saul’s dealings with God; although by definition the Hebrew scriptures contain no tragic heroes (in the sense of Greek drama), Saul is very nearly one, a man thrust into a position not of his own choosing and brought down by his own personal flaws rather than overt evil acts. In summary, I’d recommend it for its ingenious (and, at times, illuminating) approach to the subject.

What CJJ* said.
The sequel, which applies the same literary treatment to Jesus and the New Testament, is also excellent.

Miles’ form is “literary biography”- his first book explores the God of the Hebrew Scriptures as a literary character, and the follow-up continues that exploration
of the same God in a sense having a mid-life crisis as He manifests as Jesus- the
titles of the books are GOD: A Biography and CHRIST: A Crisis in the Life of God. I found them both fascinating.