دانلود کتاب Anthropomorphic Depictions of God: The Concept of God in Judaic, Christian and Islamic Traditions

This monumental study examines issues of anthropomorphism in the three Abrahamic Faiths, as
viewed through the texts of the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Qur’an. Throughout
history Christianity and Judaism have tried to make sense of God. While juxtaposing the Islamic
position against this, the author addresses the Judeo-Christian worldview and how each has chosen
to framework its encounter with God, to what extent this has been the result of actual scripture and
to what extent the product of theological debate, or church decrees of later centuries and absorption
of Hellenistic philosophy. Shah also examines Islam’s heavily anti-anthropomorphic stance and Islamic
theological discourse on Tawhid as well as the Ninety-Nine Names of God and what these have meant
in relation to Muslim understanding of God and His attributes. Describing how these became the
touchstone of Muslim discourse with Judaism and Christianity he critiques theological statements
and perspectives that came to dilute if not counter strict monotheism. As secularism debates whether
God is dead, the issue of anthropomorphism has become of immense importance. The quest for God,
especially in this day and age, is partly one of intellectual longing. To Shah, anthropomorphic
concepts and corporeal depictions of the Divine are perhaps among the leading factors of modern
atheism. As such he ultimately draws the conclusion that the postmodern longing for God will not
be quenched by pre-modern anthropomorphic and corporeal concepts of the Divine which have
simply brought God down to this cosmos, with a precise historical function and a specified location,
reducing the intellectual and spiritual force of what God is and represents, causing the soul to detract
from a sense of the sacred and thereby belief in Him.