John Bowker proposed this book as a parallel to Stephen Hawking “A Brief History of Time” because “God and time do indeed resemble each other in two ways: neither exists as common sense might imagine and both have been central to human awareness and experience for as long as any evidence survives.” (For his books I've read, click on his name.)

It is richly illustrated - color picture(s) on nearly every page. Its parts are: In the Beginning, India, Religions of Asia, Religions of Abraham, In the End. Since only fairly recently could common folk read (and books were easily available), pictures, music, and oral traditions determined how they lived and practiced religion for several eons. The book has many small (usually 2 pages) sections on specific topics. I learned a lot about Indian and Asian religions (but I didn’t know much about them beforehand). In particular how well they have assimilated new ideas, seldom rejecting but instead incorporating (sometimes with slight modifications) new ways to try to understand God. Abrahamic religions have not been so open. Bowker’s overall theme is to show how such different traditions and myths have (almost) all focused on one God. Indian religions have many incarnations of Him, but basically one God – the Creator - above all else. There are very few exceptions to this: Confucius dealt with morals rather than God and early forms of Buddhism did not speak of a God. I feel that John Bowker achieves his goal of showing that “God-thought” has been, at heart, very similar worldwide. There is a lot in this book and it comes in very small, well-organized sections, easy to peruse and digest. This book has extensive notes and a large bibliography.