Living with the Gods: On Beliefs and Peoples - Hardcover

MacGregor, Dr Neil

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0241308291 ISBN 13: 9780241308295

Publisher: Allen Lane, 2018

Synopsis

A panoramic exploration of peoples, objects and beliefs over 40,000 years from the celebrated author of A History of the World in 100 Objects and Germany, following the new BBC Radio 4 documentary and British Museum exhibition.

One of the central facts of human existence is that every society shares a set of beliefs and assumptions - a faith, an ideology, a religion - that goes far beyond the life of the individual. These beliefs are an essential part of a shared identity. They have a unique power to define - and to divide - us, and are a driving force in the politics of much of the world today. Throughout history they have most often been, in the widest sense, religious.

Yet this book is not a history of religion, nor an argument in favour of faith. It is about the stories which give shape to our lives, and the different ways in which societies imagine their place in the world. Looking across history and around the globe, it interrogates objects, places and human activities to try to understand what shared beliefs can mean in the public life of a community or a nation, how they shape the relationship between the individual and the state, and how they help give us our sense of who we are.

For in deciding how we live with our gods, we also decide how to live with each other.

'The new blockbuster by the museums maestro Neil MacGregor ... The man who chronicles world history through objects is back ... examining a new set of objects to explore the theme of faith in society' Sunday Times

About this title

Review:

Neil MacGregor is pre-eminently a teacher. He possesses the teacher's two vital gifts, which are the ability to distinguish things that are interesting from things that are not, and the capacity to change the second category into the first ... a mind-expanding book (John Carey Sunday Times)

The David Attenborough of things that don't move ... Think of it as his Blue Planet (Bryan Appleyard Sunday Times)

He shows how human beings have always used religion and objects as a way to understand the world around us, from finding some accommodation with light, water and the seasons, to attempting to find some approach towards death. ... Anyone wishing to deepen, if not change their life, will certainly benefit from this remarkable book (Douglas Murray Evening Standard)

Superbly illustrated, with objects and people and places that range far beyond the museum doors, to almost every corner of the world (Noel Malcolm Sunday Telegraph)

This scholarly, elegantly written book is a reminder of how seldom, when visiting a museum, most of us take the time to inquire into what lies behind the objects we look at. Living with the Gods is a celebration of curiosity (Caroline Moorehead Guardian)

Our eyes are opened to ways of being human that are unlike anything we could ever experience for ourselves ... Not only is the ancient past made accessible, our present reality is also made strangely questionable (Angela Tilby Literary Review)

The strength of the book is its thoughtful and sometimes provocative reflections on religion and religiosity through this exceptional range of artefacts (Linda Hogan Irish Times)

From the Back Cover:

A panoramic exploration of peoples, objects and beliefs over 40,000 years from the celebrated author of A History of the World in 100 Objects and Germany, following the new BBC Radio 4 documentary and British Museum exhibition. Available for pre-order now. No society on Earth lacks beliefs about where it has come from, its place in the world, and the connection of individuals to the eternal. Neil MacGregor's dazzling new book traces how different societies have understood and articulated their place in the cosmic scheme. He brilliantly turns his kaleidoscope of objects, monuments and ideas to examining mankind's beliefs - not from the perspective of institutional religions, but by focusing on the shared narratives that have shaped our societies, and our relationships with each other.

About this edition

• Publisher: Allen Lane
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 0241308291
• ISBN 13: 9780241308295
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 512