Wandering God: A Study in Nomadic Spirituality

by Berman, Morris

• ISBN13: 9780791444429
• ISBN10: 0791444422
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-02-01
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr

Summary

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), "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.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.

Author Biography

Morris Berman teaches part-time in the Master of Liberal Arts Program at the Johns Hopkins University.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
Note to the Reader	xiii
Introduction: The Experience of Paradox	1	(18)
The Writing on the Wall	19	(30)
Politics and Power	49	(36)
As the Soul Is Bent: The Psycho-Religious Roots of Social Inequality	85	(32)
Agriculture, Religion, and the Great Mother	117	(36)
The Zone of Flux	153	(38)
Wandering God: The Recovery of Paradox in the Twentieth Century	191	(22)
The Other Voice	213	(34)
Notes	247	(80)
Selected Bibliography	327	(6)
About the Author	333	(2)
Index	335