The Story of God

A personal cinematic essay by Robert Winston, this three-part BBC-aired series examines the history of belief in divine beings over the centuries, as well as the challenges to religion posed by modern science. The first episode, Life, the Universe, and Everything, begins with the animistic notions exhibited in the earliest cave paintings and proceeds through the polytheistic systems of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism. The second, No God But God, considers the great monotheist faiths—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The third, The God of the Gaps, takes up the issue of whether scientific inquiry, particularly evolutionary biology, will ultimately lead to the death of religious belief. Winston's wide-ranging interests take him to a number of exotic locales, where he engages in thoughtful and revealing conversations with believers and doubters, while maintaining a resolutely open-minded attitude. A practicing Jew with a healthy respect for the results of scientific investigation, Winston is a moderate who in the end shies away from claims of certainty on either side, and although he injects some witty asides into his remarks, he's never flippant or dismissive of others' views. Inevitably, The Story of God is selective in its approach, skimming over numerous details, but overall the series offers many insights, while also raising serious and valid questions worth pondering. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (F. Swietek)