¶ … River of God a New History of Christian origins" by Gregory J. Riley. The River of God

In The River of God, Gregory Riley tends to focus on the historical aspects of Christian origins that are often ignored by scholars. It is found that majority of the researchers of Christianity confine their subject matter to the inspiration from the Greek and Roman. They also confuse Rabbinic Judaism with the Judaism of Jesus' times. Prof. Riley however, takes into account Middle Eastern religious history to our search for God. Riley throws light on the subject of the development of Cannanite and Mesopotamian religion in the history of ancient Judaism.

He also adds to Greek ideas of Orphism, Pythagoreanism and Plato, by throwing light on the Egyptian and Persian Zoroastrian impact on the progress of Christian concepts of afterlife. Riley highlights the role of Persian Zoroastrianism to make us understand the concept of Satan and God. He includes an in-depth account of how the ancient religious models of God from the East and West including Greek science added to our understanding of our body and soul and the creation of the doctrine of the Trinity in the fourth century. The River of God cannot be taken as a generalized synopsis of world religions because it concentrates on the development of Christianity from so many different religions. Prof. Riley writes on the development of Christianity from a wider perspective. Some scholars will have trivial objection on some of the details and generalizations, but one thing that can be concluded on this book 'The River of God" is that it's a very good resource for strengthening our understanding of God.

This book is a very powerful and persuasive work of the historian Gregory Riley. He not only finds the origins of Christianity outside of typical sources in Judaism and in the Hebrew Bible, but Riley brings to light other sources that have never been delved into, such as, fundamentals of Greek philosophy and science, Zoroastrianism,...

They all declared to be submitted to the religion of the Christ. It is these sects that gave rise to the doctrinally unrelated Christianities in today's diversity of the Church.
This book has the reader take a journey from learning about the origins of Christianity to understanding Christianity as a religion of God. This extraordinary book takes the reader through five sections of the Christian faith.

The rise of monotheism.

The subsequent development of Christian Trinitarianism.

The evolution of the Devil and eschatology.

The development and the consequences of the concept of body and soul for humans.

The meaning of Jesus as savior.

Riley uses simple English written in prose, to illustrate and enhance our understanding of Christianity. During this it also uncover new truths and new pathways to faith. He links the history of Christianity to an immensely great river, to depict the relationship between God and humanity over the centuries. The contributions from history and the river are divine and human.

He writes about the relationship between God and humans over a time period that stretches over thousands of years, from the dawn of mankind to the time of the early Christians, and even before that.

The River of God is an original masterpiece that explores how the beliefs and faith of early Christianity evolved from the time of its early followers till today. The concepts of historical past, theological, science, and other social developments are intricately sewn together like a quilt.

Gregory Riley puts the history…