Rating: 
Summary: A knockout--couldn't stop reading!
Review: Akenson's book is easily the most comprehensive discussion of Hebrew and Christian scripture I have read. Especially valuable for me was the middle section of the book, in which he takes the reader through some of the more important religious literature being written during the second temple period and identifies it as the source of many themes that eventually find their way into the Christian gospels. Surpassing Wonder was valuable for me also because it adjusted my perspective. I am used to thinking of the religious literature after Jesus as that of the Christian Bible. Akenson, however, brings equally to the foreground an extensive discussion of the rabbinic literature being written during the same period as the church fathers are formulating and arguing out what will become the traditional beliefs of Christianity. Thus, in Akenson's book, we get an overview (skillfully handled, especially considering the vastness of the rabbinic texts) of the literature of both the major religions that emerged from the tumultuous period of Jesus' life and the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. I would strongly recommend this book as an essential introduction to the writing of both the Hebrew and Christian bible and their historical contexts.
Rating:
Summary: The Nails for the Evangelical Coffin are ready
Review: Finally a book which while praising the brilliance of the Bible as literature reveals what it really is: certainly not something dictated by God, whoever HE is. The Bible has been rewritten to make the Israelite religious insights compatible with a particular point of view. Then the incredible richness of Second Temple religon in Israel was destroyed by the Roman destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, forcing those who had the skill to invent a new religion where the Temple was purely spiritual. The Christians began first in making God-Jesus-HolySpirit the new temple, followed by the rabbis who made a new temple out of the Law. It is hard to say, and Akenson does not offer an answer, which reinvention of religion made more sense: 1) that God would send himself(Son) to die for sins, or
2) that a pettifogging Talmudism would be the way to continue reverence towards God. What I conclude is that Judaism and Christianity are both absurd, along with Islam which has its own take on all this. Akenson has given us a real answer to the bible-thumpers of all sorts. The Bible is a marvellous work of literature -- but there is little in it that one can rely on for truth.But I realize that after four hundred years of scientific study of the bible, there remains a large number of people in the United States, fewer in Europe, who think that God had something to do with the Bible. The more's the fool.......
Rating:
Summary: The Nails for the Evangelical Coffin are ready
Review: Finally a book which while praising the brilliance of the Bible as literature reveals what it really is: certainly not something dictated by God, whoever HE is. The Bible has been rewritten to make the Israelite religious insights compatible with a particular point of view. Then the incredible richness of Second Temple religon in Israel was destroyed by the Roman destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, forcing those who had the skill to invent a new religion where the Temple was purely spiritual. The Christians began first in making God-Jesus-HolySpirit the new temple, followed by the rabbis who made a new temple out of the Law. It is hard to say, and Akenson does not offer an answer, which reinvention of religion made more sense: 1) that God would send himself(Son) to die for sins, or
2) that a pettifogging Talmudism would be the way to continue reverence towards God. What I conclude is that Judaism and Christianity are both absurd, along with Islam which has its own take on all this. Akenson has given us a real answer to the bible-thumpers of all sorts. The Bible is a marvellous work of literature -- but there is little in it that one can rely on for truth. But I realize that after four hundred years of scientific study of the bible, there remains a large number of people in the United States, fewer in Europe, who think that God had something to do with the Bible. The more's the fool.......
Rating: 
Summary: The wonder of it all
Review: From a confessed 'believer' (one of those whom Akenson prophesied would not enjoy his book - and warned the reader against!): On the recommend of a good friend, I did read this book ... and it seemed take forever as I felt constrained to keep checking the argumentation on almost every contentious point (and there are many) but I made it through and consider that a victory, of sorts. Five stars for the author's way with a thought - humour in a non-humourous field is appreciated; four stars for his vocabulary - it is an education to read this book on several levels; three stars for the information on cultures and politics of the times - the 'Christian' era gets, by far, the short end of the stick in this one; two stars for originality - apart from the 'Genesis to Kings' emphasis, most of the invention hypothesis is and has long been dogma for liberal academia; and one star for convincing argumentation - most of his scholarship is guesswork (admittedly, though he seems to forget that by about page 160) and some of it embarrassingly thin - a story of Christ's miraculous birth was invented because "they needed one" comes to mind. One of the reviewers at this site used the word "silly". Interesting. In reviewing this book for my friend, I had grouped my critiques into categories, one of them being 'sillinesses'. And there are abundant sillinesses in this book. The reader can live with them and continue to mine the text for what is worthy but they do distract and discourage the effort. Perhaps the greatest silliness is his professed posture of 'belief neutral'. Unbelief is not "belief neutral" and Akenson, for all his damning by effusive praise of the texts, is an orthodox unbeliever. That is, he is wedded to naturalism as an un-breachable cosmology and thus any hint of prophecy (the signature of God) or the supernatural (what? - right here in the Bible - the supernatural!) is instant grounds for distrust and suspicion ... and for the "invention" of some alternate explanation - however silly - to get around the 'difficulty'. I guess that is the great irony of the book: it, itself, is the great invention here to be dealt with. Akenson confirms that the Bible presents as history; he treats it as a pious fraud with almost no academic investigation of that claim worthy of the name. It is justice denied (and on purely personal grounds) for a great historical text. I found it profitable, none-the-less, and truly enjoyed the study prompted and quickened by this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Thoroughly unreliable
Review: I bought this book because it seemed like a good overview of the canonisation of the Bible and the redaction of Jewish post-Biblical writings. As I progressed through the text there were a number of things which I thought were wrong or misstated, but I presumed that the author knew more than did, or was approaching the subject from a different perspective. Then I came to his section on Jewish liturgy, specifically the "Shmoneh Esreh", the "Eighteen". You can find it in his index as "Eighteen Benedictions". It is immediately apparent that the author does not know what he's talking about and has not done the most perfunctory research. In contrast to what he says - the Shmoneh Esreh is found in modern prayer books. In fact, it is the core of Orthodox and Conservative prayer, and is publicly recited three times daily. He seems to think its use has died out. In contrast to what he says it is not a diatribe against Christians. In fact it contains eighteen prayers for health, prosperity, security, good rainfall, and so forth. The one thing he did get right demonstrates what he got wrong - the "eighteen" are really nineteen; there's an extra prayer which was added to the text some time early in the Common Era. This prayer is in fact directed against heretics - and informers and slanderers and the "evil government" - i.e., the Romans. I am personally not convinced that Christians are meant by "heretics"; this was written before the development of orthodox Christianity. I am willing to give the author the benefit of the doubt in this one area. Why did the author not know that the eighteen are nineteen, and that the original eighteen have nothing to do with Chrisitianity? I can only presume that he never looked in a Jewish prayer book. This shoddy research means that I have no confidence in anything he has to say. This is a shame, because the book's an entertaining and easy read.
Rating: 
Summary: Engaging reading, many interesting thoughts
Review: I find the book very lively, engaging, the writer says veryclearly that this is a book of his personal opinions, and tells them clearly, also stating wiht whom he disagrees. I regret that he is rather brief in his description of the Christian Books, I would have enjoyed the same depth that both the older Jewish Scriptures and the Talmud enjoy. Still, I do not find him glib and condescending................................... Authors who clearly state that what they write is their personal idea invite discussion and stimulate me to think, which is very different from expecting blind agreement. They show me their thinking and its limitations, and I can "take or leave" whatever I want - exactly the contrary of arrongance and condescension. A very valuable and well written book, that makes the rather academic subject exciting and fresh.
Rating: 
Summary: Missed opportunity to write history
Review: I had read a couple of reviews of Surpassing Wonder both of which noted that the author Donald Harman Akenson is a professor of history at Queens University in Kingston Ontario. Based on this, I approached the text as history. On that basis, the book is a disappointment. It is written in an easy going style, the style of a well written piece of fiction. However, the arguments of the author are that this is a serious historical work. All too often in reading the text and look up the end note( there are 95 pages of end-notes) the note would essentially contradict the statement in the text. The author does provide a considerable number of cultural and historical references, many of which are enlightening but the book must be read with caution. The author's tendency to dismiss other writers, and in particular biblical scholars, as less then competent raises some serious questions about the objectivity of the book; the author's reference to those scholars involved in The Jesus Seminar, as coming from "institutions that are second-line, and associated with weak and declining churches" (p. 543) is a good example of both a value-judgement and a statement not backed up with data, which tend to denigrate those involved in The Jesus Seminar in a most unscholarly manner. The author's use of the technical names for the Jewish texts, i.e. the Tanakh, the Torah, and the Talmud, are generally accurate, but a little more scholarly work, or checking with a Rabbi, would have provided Akenson with the appropriate name for an English version (i.e. not a translation) of the Pentatuch, which is the Chumash. Basically I found the book disappointing as a serious work of history, and misleading in its treatment of the Christian Bible, and of the Jewish Talmuds. It is a fun read in many respects, if a bit negative, but the fun wears thin as the inaccuracies and misleading statements build.
Rating:
Summary: an awesome wonder
Review: In this brilliant and awesome tour de force, author, scholar and award-winning professor Donald Harmon Akenson unfolds and illumines the arising of Judaism and Christianity from their common roots in "Judahism" following the destruction of the Second Temple(70 CE).Using historical method, Akenson traces the bringing together (invention) of thousands of ancient stories into a interrelated spiritual vision that shapes the core of our Western consciousness. With wit, literary elegance, and clear analysis, he follows the changing understanding of The Covenant as it transmutes from the limited instrument of salvation for a particular people into a "New" relationship with a God who takes human form to save all people. Footnotes in each chapter point to a wealth of information and further readings to enable greater understanding and explication of this fascinating history.
I found Akenson's book like a jewel showing facets previously unseen and it has brought me to a deep appreciation of these texts that I thought not possible.
Rating:
Summary: A brilliant, original, and highly entertaining book.
Review: The author is quite upfront in warning off readers who will not profit from this book: i.e. those devoted to the concept of Bible inerrancy or otherwise unwilling or unable to broaden their perspectives. Those readers are missing out on a wonderful ride. In a manner reminiscent of Stephen Jay Gould (another author I wouldn't recommend to the blinkered reader), Akenson combines humor, imagination and scholarship to explore the incredible richness of Biblical texts. I was very impressed with his main thesis, which is audacious yet plausible and cogently argued. The book is more than a satisfying intellectual read. It is an invitiation to share in the author's unquenchable joy as he attempt to answer questions central to our understanding of ourselves.
Rating:
Summary: The big picture
Review: This is a book of big ideas - western culture has its roots in the Hebrew scriptures, the Scriptures are most meaningful when studied as history, a single author/editor/historian compiled Genesis through Kings, the presence or absence of a temple and the immediacy or remoteness of Yahweh drove Biblical writing, the destruction of the Jerusalem in 70 CE was the seminal event in the creation of both Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity. The most radical idea is of a single author of Genesis/Kings, but this idea is not set in concrete. The rest of Surpassing Wonder is surprisingly conservative. Akinson meticulously ties the early to the late Hebrew scriptures, and both to the Christian scriptures and Rabbinic Judaism and the writing of the Talmuds. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who wants a better understanding of the origins of these texts, and especially for those who have been reading conspiracy-type books on mystical bloodlines, ancient Masonic rituals, and the multitude of Biblical contradictions (which Akenson argues actually add strength to the stories). Akenson states up-front that his book is "belief neutral," and that fundamentalists should look elsewhere. I guarantee that anyone with at least a somewhat open mind and an interest in the topic will find this amazing book to be very engaging and challenging - but don't expect a quick read!
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