Jonathan Kirsch - God Against The Gods: The History of the War Between Monotheism and Polytheism

Table of Contents

GOD AGAINST THE GODS

Jonathan Kirsch is the author of the bestselling and critically acclaimed The Harlot by the Side of the Road: Forbidden Tales of the Bible; King David: The Real Life of the Man Who Ruled Israel; Moses: A Life; and The Woman Who Laughed at God . A member of the National Book Critics Circle, PEN Center USA West, and a book columnist for the Los Angeles Times , Kirsch writes and lectures widely on biblical, literary, and legal topics. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

ALSO BY THIS AUTHOR

The Woman Who Laughed at God:
The Untold History of the Jewish People

Moses: A Life

King David:

The Real Life of the Man Who Ruled Israel

The Harlot by the Side of the Road:

Forbidden Tales of the Bible

Kirschs Handbook of Publishing Law:
For Authors, Publishers, Editors, and Agents

Kirschs Guide to the Book Contract:
For Authors, Publishers, Editors, and Agents

PENGUIN BOOKS
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First published in the United States of America by Viking Compass,
a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 2004
Published in Penguin Books 2005

Copyright Jonathan Kirsch, 2004

All rights reserved

Title-page art: Andrea Celesti (1637-1706). Moses Ordering the Destruction of the Golden Calf.
Palazzo Ducale, Venice, Italy. Credit: Cameraphoto/Art Resource, NY

eISBN : 978-0-142-19633-5

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For
Ann Benjamin Kirsch,
Jennifer Rachel Kirsch,
Adam Benjamin Kirsch and Remy Elizabeth Holzer,
my beloved and gifted family.

And for
Laurie Fox,
my agent, muse, fellow writer and cherished friend.

... inscribe us in the Book of Life...

Acknowledgments

My first thought, as always, is for Ann Benjamin Kirsch, my wife and lifelong best friend, and our gifted and accomplished children, Jennifer Rachel Kirsch and Adam Benjamin Kirsch, whose constancy, companionship and love have been essential to the writing of God Against the Gods and everything else I do.

This book is dedicated to my family and to someone who has been crucial to my writing life ever since the publication of The Harlot by the Side of the Road Laurie Fox, whom I first met when she worked behind the counter of a bookstore in West Hollywood and soon came to know as a cherished friend. Laurie is my literary agent, and the kind of agent whom every writer dreams about, but that is only one of her giftsshe is also an accomplished artist, poet and novelist, a wise counselor on whom I have relied for her vision, sagacity, good advice.

Janet Goldstein, my editor at Viking, guided me through the conception and writing of both The Woman Who Laughed at God and God Against the Gods , and I am grateful for her discerning eye, expert editorial hand and lively spirit.

I am deeply grateful, too, to Clare Ferraro at Viking, who has given me so many opportunities over the years, starting with The Harlot by the Side of the Road and including the present book.

Among the many people at Viking with whom I worked closely on the present book were Beena Kamlani, Carolyn Coleburn, Cindy Hamel, Melanie Thurston, Rakia Clark, Ann Mah, Francesca Belanger, Greg Mollica, and Trent Duffy and I deeply enjoyed the opportunity to do so.

At Viking, I also appreciated the opportunity to work with Mike Brennan, Nancy Sheppard, Phil Budnick, Fred Huber, and Glenn Timony.

Susan Olinger, a gifted writer who shares my fascination with the ancients, provided expert and imaginative research assistance, and I made good use of research conducted for my earlier books by Adam Kirsch, Andrew Solomon, Leonard Braman and Vera Tobin. Michele Goldman ably assisted in map research and proofing the manuscript and galleys.

I have been supported and encouraged in important ways by family, friends, and colleagues to whom I express my heartfelt appreciation:

Judy Woo and Eui Sook (Angie) Yoon, my cherished friends and colleagues.

Remy Elizabeth Holzer, my daughter-in-law, and her family, Harold, Edith and Meg Holzer.

Candace Barrett Birk and Raye Birk, Maryann Rosenfeld and Shelly Kadish, Pat and Len Solomon.

K. C. Cole, my dear friend and a writer whose work on science has shaped my own work on the history of religion.

Janet Fitch, Diane Leslie, Mary Rakow, Carolyn See and Bernadette Shih, each of whom I admire as a fellow writer and depend on as a dear friend.

Linda Chester and her colleagues at the Linda Chester Agency.

Linda Michaels and Teresa Cavanaugh at Linda Michaels Ltd. International Literary Agents.

Steve Wasserman, Tom Curwen, Nick Owchar, Orli Low, Kristina Lindgren, Sara Lippincott, and Ethel Alexander at the Los Angeles Times Book Review .

Doug Brown, Tom Crouch, Lara Furar and Barbara Morrow and at the Los Angeles Times .

Jan Nathan and Terry Nathan at the Publishers Marketing Association.

Larry Mantle, Kitty Felde, Aimee Machado, Jackie Oclaray, Linda Othenin-Girard and Polly Sveda at KPCC-FM.

Rob Eshman at The Jewish Journal .

Sarah Spitz at KCRW-FM.

Gwen Feldman and Jim Fox at Silman-James Press, and Tony Cohan at Acrobat Books.

Connie Martinson, host of Connie Martinson Talks Books .

Doug Dutton, Lise Friedman and Ed Conklin at Duttons Books in Brentwood; Linda Urban at Vromans in Pasadena; Stan Madson and Jeanne DArcy at the Bodhi Tree in West Hollywood; Lita Weiss-man and Peggy Jackson at Borders; Michele Yanow at Tree of Life Judaica & Books in Seattle; Abigail Yasgur at the Jewish Community Library in Los Angeles; and Michael Graziano.

Charlie Alexiev, Scott Baker, Lillian Heller Conrad, Jacob Gabay, Inge-Lise DeWolfe, Fred Huffman, Jill Johnson Keeney, Les Klinger, Rae Lewis, Dennis Mitchell and Dolores Sloan.

At various significant points, I have relied on the published work and the generous encouragement of Jack Miles, Donald Harmen Akenson, Karen Armstrong, David Noel Freedman, Leonard Shlain and David Rosenberg, each of whom has inspired my own work in important ways.