Amen Book Reviews
Kirkus Indie Review
► Ginex presents the scholarship that informed his novel (Future of God Amen, 2007, etc.) about the Egyptian god who gave birth to modern monotheism.
Invoking the word used by Jews, Christians and Muslims in prayer, Ginex takes on a Herculean task: to convince rabbis, priests, ministers, imams and mullahs to “give credit where credit is due.” That is, to acknowledge that their most basic, shared tenets owe a great deal to Amon, the ram-headed god of life and procreation, revered two millennia before the birth of Jesus—who alluded to the concept of “the Sole God” in Revelations, quoted by Ginex in the book’s subtitle. Mostly, the author hopes all religions will abide by “God’s greatest and last commandment”: Love one another. He respects Judaism, Christianity and Islam, but takes issue with what his book calls repeated “misinformation,” i.e., revisionist history and a skewed sense of exceptionalism perpetrated by their leaders. He examines the similarities between the Ten Commandments and “the Egyptian code of conduct,” and demonstrates how ancient Egyptian hymns and scriptures influenced the tone and content of Genesis. He delves into the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Quran. In a sensitive but forceful comparison of the Quran’s Ten Commandments to those of Judeo-Christian heritage, he notes the “very significant” addition of the words, “save for just cause”—which includes infidels and heretics—to “Thou shall not kill.” Concise overviews of history offer compelling evidence for passionate arguments, helping readers understand what led to the writing of the Gospels and the creation of the Catholic Church. Although Ginex tends to rehash arguments from time to time, he allows his facts to fascinate. His conjectures and conclusions, many borrowed from—and duly credited to—previous religious scholars resonate, leaving readers with much to ponder.
A revelatory look at the origins of monotheistic religions and the evolution of their belief systems.
Kirkus Indie Book Reviews – November 2012