Why did god change his mind?

by AYTUN ALTINDAL

This addition to Judeao-Chiristian heritage is all the more welcome because its author's cultural roots lie in a quite different tradition-Islam. This difference plus Mr Altindal's wide-ranging scholariship and syncretic understanding enables him to look at the image of the Biblical God, Elohim, with an eye unclouded by religious passion and dispersions of Judeo-Chiristian cultural mores.

The book's ma,n hypothesisis neither subversive nor atheistic: it is huwever intellectually provoking, dealing on the one hand with Biblical Elohim as the Presence and on the other Talmudic JHWH as the manmade Apperance of the former. Complementing these are also clear exegeses of the place of Mosaic Law and Pauline theology in the development of the early church.

To some this Monistic-Deistic thesis may appear heretical: but for the liberal open-minded seeker after elucidation it will provide both stimulus and insight.

"I have looked over the Why did God change his mind? and it is a remarkable reflection on the meaning of the Presence. Keep up the good work in handling bigotry, although your books indicate that you are quite devoted to that."

Prof. Donald Dietrich
Chair, Department of Theology, Boston College