Cover of Wandering God: A Study in Nomadic Spirituality

Wandering God: A Study in Nomadic Spirituality

The third book in Morris Berman's much acclaimed trilogy on the evolution of human consciousness, Wandering God continues his earlier work which garnered such praise as "solid lessons in the history of ideas" (KIRKUS Reviews), "filled with piquant details" (Common Boundary), and "an informative synthesis and a remarkably friendly, good-natured jeremiad" (The Village Voice). Here, in a remarkable discussion of our hunter-gatherer ancestry and the "paradoxical" mode of perception that it involved, Berman shows how a sense of alertness, or secular/sacred immediacy, subsequently got buried by the rise of sedentary civilization, religion, and vertical power relationships.

Read more

In an integrated tour de force, Wandering God explores the meaning of Paleolithic art, the origins of social inequality, the nature of cross-cultural child rearing, the relationship between women and agriculture, and the world view of present-day nomadic peoples, as well as the emergence of "paradoxical" consciousness in the philosophical writings of the twentieth century.

Audience
adult
Length
medium · 364 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked Wandering God: A Study in Nomadic Spirituality? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Wandering God: A Study in Nomadic Spirituality. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Daily Guideposts Shares religion
  2. The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 1 (of 12) Dresden Edition-Lectures Shares religion
  3. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on the Bhagavad-Gita: A Translation and Commentary, Chapters 1-6 Shares religion
  4. The Ramayana and Mahabharata Condensed into English Verse Shares religion

“If you want more of the same (anthropology about religion), start with these.”

  1. Holy Sh!t - The Insanity of Blind Faith: Volume One: Christianity
  2. The Restored New Testament: A New Translation with Commentary, Including the Gnostic Gospels Thomas, Mary, and Judas
  3. The Bible in a Nutshell
  4. God Needs To Go: Why Christian Beliefs Fail

“If it was the religion that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. God's Plan for Spiritual Battle: Victory over Sin, the World, and the Devil
  2. The Gnostic Gospels of Philip, Mary Magdalene, and Thomas
  3. Inspire Bible-NLT: The Bible for Creative Journaling
  4. Virtual Faith: The Irreverent Spiritual Quest of Generation X

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. The Dawn of Everything
  2. The Disenchantment of the World: A Political History of Religion
  3. A Secret History of Consciousness
  4. The New Penguin History of The World