What if God was a naive deity that walked among mankind and the world that he created, looking for logic, understanding and enlightenment?

This is the basis for a biography-style novel by Franco Ferrucci that tells the life and elucidation of God, as narrated by him.

“The Life of God (As Told By Himself)” will inspire historians, captivate readers with only a minimal understanding of Christianity and drive religious fundamentalists insane.

Ferrucci artistically draws on thousands of years of religious and philosophical rhetoric to write a humorous and troubling account of God’s life, paralleled with the development of his world.

The book begins with a God that out of chaos and confusion creates a world within which he hopes to find some understanding to his role and place in the universe. He immerses himself in his creation, taking on the various forms of primitive creatures and animals he has created. Progressively, his thoughts and moods populated the entire planet.

Eventually, a new arrival emerges from apes and begins to develop higher mental and emotional ability. God feels he has finally found a companion that will offer explanation and insight into his plight. Humankind becomes the “animal of his hopes.”

Through his interactions with mankind, God learns he has lost control of the earth’s destiny and subsequently those that inhabit it.

Wandering through history, God looks for those who will recognize him.

Ferrucci describes humorous accounts in which God sits at Buddha’s feet, helps Freud with the concept of the unconscious, enrages Shakespeare and argues with Moses.

The boldest and most heretic aspect of the book is when God accidentally becomes the father of Jesus Christ, who later becomes a guru of public relations in his hope to establish a strong and lasting foundation for Christianity.

God eventually realizes that what he has created is flawed. However, he is inexplicably tied to humans in hopes of understanding them, the world and himself.

Impressively, Ferrucci is able to amalgamate both the creationist and evolutionist concepts of creation. God did create the apes, but they developed much beyond his intent into the more advanced human form.

The most enduring aspect of the novel is the naivete the character of God has for everything that he has created. The deity falls in love with people and objects, much like a small child would.

The novel shows the author’s obvious disappointment with humankind and the progression of the human race. However, it is obvious that Ferrucci believes there is hope. Life in any form is a progress of trial and error, and experience.

The character of God is more human than the humans he comes to love so much.

The life of God was originally published in Italian in 1986 and was translated into English by Raymond Rosenthal and re-released in 1996.

The book is provocative for its fresh and inventive look at history and various popular religious stories. But it also brings God back to the people, something that the original Bible stories do not always still do in our modern world.

HHHH

Marty Forth is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Waterdown, Ontario, Canada.