God & Human Beings: First English Translation

Interesting book from Voltaire. Haven't read much before him, but I assume a lot of what's in the book was fairly new to his time/era; if not for the sole reason that the ideas he publishes oould not have been published too much before his time, at least not if you wanted to remain alive or at least in one piece..!Although the title is simply 'God' and doesn't indicate any particular religion, Gods and Human Beings is written with a bent towards an explication and criticism of the Jewish and Christian religion. Other religions are discussed, but always with an eye to Jewish/Christian comparison.Much of what Voltaire discusses sets the groundwork for what many might consider a neutered religion or perhaps more euphemistically put, a personal religion. One which satisifies the worshiper but doesn't diffuse into society or have socio-political power over people's lives. Although he was very much religious, his writing sets to release people from any particular dogma, freeing them to worship a Supreme Being through either the personage of a prophet or through a direct communion with the Creator. Volatire also seems to think that what he considers true religion is tied to morality and that all people are bound by this universal morality and as long as that morality is met, anything else (i.e. dogma) is secondary and superfluous.Discussed with wit and what I would call a righteous indignation, Voltaire skims the bible, giving short incisive reviews of the histories of the Hebrews, Jews and Christians, plucking out from the Bible what he considers are inevitable contradictions; inevitable because the ideas, phenomenon and histories are written by falible and interested, biased people. These contradictions include "facts" such as geneologies of the same person differing from book to book. Other examples are a bit more subtle such as the claim of a loving God commanding love from His people and yet asking those same people to commit what are, in Voltaire's view, some of the worst atrocities commited by humans.Voltaire also includes reviews of other religions, comparing them to the Jewish and Christian religions, noting the similarities in styles of worship and morality and how many of these religions predated both Christianity and Judaism and that Christianity and Judaism have elements, if not plain plagarisms of these older religions. Egyptian, Far East and Persian religions are cited, but he also discusses the influences of non religious thinking such as the that of Platonic philosophy on Christianity.I think Voltaire hits the nail on the head of much of his discussion about Judaism and Chritianity, however, I can see how his diabtribes can come across a bit anti-semitic. It was not only the Jews that committed attrocities and could be considered a roving band of thieves; a point which he appears to admit, but might be lost in his excoriations of Jewish history. Also, I'm not convinced of the existence of a Supreme Being nor of the universality of morality.Granted Voltaire was more deist in his approach to religion, but I think he cannot convince himself to take the next step of taking out what amounts to nonsense. Not nonsense in the sense that there is no Supreme Being, but when you take out the "human qualities" of a God, you are essentially left with nothing with which to ground your definition. God becomes something only described by ambiguous terminology subject to subjective interpretation and necessarily incomplete and effectively useless.For example, we cannot describe eternity. We can only describe it by reference to its opposite: time. Therefore the concept is not only useless to us in acertaining any kind of certainty in philosophic (or scientific) ideas but it contains contradictions inherent in whatever structures of understanding we are limited to in our human bodies (that doesn't keep us from trying though - its fun and makes interesting movies!).The issue of the universality of morality is a little more complex, but Voltaire does not have the luxury of anthropological, biological and psychological studies available to us today. Perhaps if he did, he still may not believe that morals are relative (even today, the issue is far from decided), but I believe he would be more apt to believe that it is difficult to know.All in all, a great book. A great read. Funny witty. Essential for anyone considering apologetics against religions..

Voltaire cuts through the established Judeo-Christian myths and fables like an enraged academic with a scythe.None of the ideas are new to today's debate of course but in 1769, when the book was written it must have caused a stir within the various religious circles.He was obviously a passionate and educated man who had no qualms about upsetting the status quo.Claiming to be a deist he nonetheless has little time for religion as espoused by the scribes who brought us our Christian beliefs that still hang on right up to the present day.An easy and fascinating read if you are interested in religion and all that it meant and still means for mankind.

A fantastic review of all religions that Voltaire knew about. However his critique of Christianity and its parent religion Judaism is SUBLIME.This translation into English of the original French is superb.The book was originally published under the pretence that an Englishman (forgot the name) wrote it. This makes it amusing to read some of the parts of the book.EVERY paragraph, is full of amazing stuff. Voltaire is just wonderful and his sarcasm is hilarious.Wonderful translation, wonderful content and EDUCATIONAL in every paragraph..... do yourself a favor that you will cherish for ever....READ this book.

Voltaire pulls no punches in his commentary on Biblical stories. This book offers much food for thought for anyone involved in a mainstream religion. The book is written in small 2-5 page chapters, so it's great if you like to read a little at a time and come back later for more. Voltaire approaches each subject with Reason, Rationale, and Logic.

Even in the present day, the Church (somewhat understandably) gives little publicity to historical text criticism of its sources, presumably (according to the staunchest fundamentalists) literally inspired. Voltaire retraces a fair amount of "revealed truths" to other origins and thus encourages, not militant atheism, mind you, but definitely a more rational approach in which the role of "faith" as blind acceptance is played down.

One must read Voltaire's God and Human Beings to enjoy his refreshing and clever views about religions of all sorts. My experience was like a travel through time, seeing things I'd not seen before. I thank the courteous service and prompt delivery of my book. I think the price was right and the book in the condition it was advertised. Thank you very much.

This is an enlightening trip toward the truth spire. Tread if you dare. The water which you wash daily may not be as clean as it appears. If you want to remain happy in possible delusions do not delve further than the title - if you seek knowledge flip the cover and eye-scan all the book's contained data. The choice is yours.

He really points out the fallacies in religious belief as we know it today.

Francois Marie Aroutte whose nom de plume was Voltaire, is an intellectual all smart asses should read. The enlightenments first civil rights protagonist and anti slavery advocate. A rich bwoy who turned on the elite class and was hunted from country to country. Keep speaking out truth to power. Respect due!

I'll be brief.In this book Voltaire says directly why Judaism and Christianism are a fraud. He tells you: how both religions were fabricated and stole beliefs and tales from other preexisting religions; how damaging they were to our world. The writing is clear and easily understood.A must have for those interested in knowing more about the roots and consequences of both these religions.

Brilliant book. Voltaire deserves his reputation. An absolute master of clear thought and able to communicate it, fearlessly and forthrightly.

This is a fantastic book and amazing in its depth and scope considering when it was written. Voltaire's cheeky intellect shines throughout and gave me many a giggle.

#BookReview #GodandHumanBeings by #VoltaireOf all the great freethinkers, skeptics and secularists from history that atheists wish we could claim amongst our ranks, the great satirist Voltaire is at the top of my list. Unfortunately Voltaire, who knew many of the great atheists like Diderot and possibly D’Holbach, was like many of my enlightenment heroes a deist, perhaps I would go as far as to say a secular theist. In fact he was often disparaging of the atheists and Spinozists, often ridiculing their lack of moral centers. Apparently in one of the first English translations, “God and Human Beings” gives us a clearer look at Voltaire’s theological beliefs. These beliefs fall largely into the category of natural religion and the deism that was popular among the more moderate circle of enlightenment thought. This includes a belief in a the ability that through reason and observation man can establish a belief in a singular supreme being without many of the trappings and dogmas of the established churches that these thinkers were often rebelling against. Especially, in the case of Voltaire, the Catholic Church whose abuses he experienced firsthand and whose trinity doctrine he lampoons throughout the text. While keeping these deistic themes in mind, I think it is appropriate to divide the book into four sections: Pre-Jewish, Jewish, Christian and deistic content. In the sections on Pre-Jewish mythology Voltaire talks about the various other ancient religions of the world such as the Greeks, Hindus, Mesopotamia and the Chinese. Here he reflects upon the similarities of the religion and how these myths could have formed through various shared natural experiences. The flood myth for example could have formed as a result of the shared human experience of the devastation of flooding and the attempt of a barbarous people to understand it. Two other important points of note here are that we see the early introductions of comparative religious criticism in a more open, although not completely, tolerant society. Voltaire supposes that not only does the antiquity of other religions challenge biblical literalism, but it also presents a cross cultural exchange that may have introduced many of these stories to the Jewish canon, such as the Noah myth being derived from the Sumerian tale of Ziusudra. The largest problem with this section is Voltaire’s geographical limitations. Although well-traveled for his time, Voltaire never to my knowledge left the bounds of Europe, so like the other encyclopedists, he relies heavily on second hand accounts. This fact combined with the limited archeological knowledge of the day limits the scope of his critique and leads him to create an untrue depiction of the Chinese as more noble and enlightened than those of the Mideast. An image that remains today to the exclusion of the people that actually lived under the sagely aristocracy. The next section of content on the Jewish bible reflects, perhaps, the most prominent aspect of biblical criticism of the 18th century, which is a complete rejection of the Jewish scripture and the image of God that it presents. Like Marcion of Sinope, Voltaire and many deists wish to discount the god of the Jews due to his barbarity and viciousness in the Old Testament. For Voltaire this is a matter of grounding the good in a way that the rejects the commands given directly to the Jews from Yahweh, which include direct instructions to slaughter, enslave and rape. The ability of god, or desire to, command such actions are directly at odds with Voltaire’s conception of a universal moral good. As a result, he challenges the historicity of the Old Testament, including the authorship and historicity of Moses, which would have been a fairly scandalous topic in the 18th century and an idea that is still not well known today. Next Voltaire critiques Christianity and the New Testament. Like many satirists Voltaire reveals an ideological weakness in that his harsh criticism of the Old Testament is largely absent from his critique of the New Testament, at least for Jesus. Voltaire seems to want to save not only the historicity of Jesus, largely off the discredited Toledot Jesu, but also his character as an itinerate preacher of the people. This defending of Jesus at the expense of the biblical narrative is in spite of the fact that Voltaire recognizes the thematic construction of the story and the interpolation and other problems of extra biblical sources. He also recognizes a fact that is well accepted now, that the early church had a proliferation of sects and rival gospels. The most interesting point raised by Voltaire for me, is his acknowledgement of the Hellenistic origins of the New Testament. It seems clear to Voltaire that the writers of the gospel are borrowing heavily from the Platonic dialogues. In his opinion this is where the bible gets most of metaphysical content by borrowing from platonic ideas such as forms and objective morality, as well as maybe even Greek concepts of Heaven and Hell. Inevitably Voltaire hopes that this criticism will remove the dogma and leave us with pure religion where we derive an objective good from suppositions of natural reasoning and rationality. Although many agnostics and spirituals may agree with his final conclusions, as an atheist I have to disagree with the conclusion that Voltaire reaches. I think it may be possible to construct a naturalized concept of good, which even later thinkers like Mills and even contemporary philosophers like Chomsky might propose, I think like most deists he builds to much off the suppositions he makes and even this limited scope might give too great of a prescriptive leeway. I would recommend this book however, for anyone interested in the history of biblical criticism or philosophy.