Abstract
Friedman is Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California, San Diego. He also wrote the book, Who Wrote the Bible. In the opening chapters the author reviews materials in both the Old and New Testaments. He then switches to some analysis and comparison of Nietzsche and Dostoevsky, and ends up with a discussion of the big bang theory of creation, comparing it to the Jewish Kabbalah. The theme running throughout the book is the idea that God, at times, seems to disappear from history. He was clearly present early in Old Testament history, then seemingly disappeared. He was manifested openly in the ministry of Jesus, but again seems to fade away in the later New Testament writings. This is presented as a new observation, but one that many Bible scholars have noted in the past (e.g., Sir Robert Anderson's book, The Silence of God).