The silence of God is a big challenge to theists. This book, which I heard about on the Jordan Peterson podcast, seemed appropriate to read on the subject. The first part, where the author looks at how God seems to diminish and disappear throughout the Bible narrative, is brilliant. His insights here on how God even steps aside throughout Genesis for humans are thought provoking. I was wondering how he'd tackle Christianity and he does so, as well as with Rabbinic Judaism, in interesting ways. Its not that I agree with all his conclusions, but this part of the book was probably close to five stars.

Part two is a discussion of Nietzsche and Dostoyevsky. They were two men who grappled with God's silence in similar, as well as differing, ways. I love Dostoyevsky's novels and Nietzsche is always worth learning more about. This section ties in well as a contemporary illustration that extends from the disappearance of God in the Bible. I'd have liked a bit of a bridging of that gap with thoughts on history from the end of the Bible to today. Is Friedman's interpretation of the Bible conditioned by a culture that absorbed Nietzsche's critiques? Was God silent throughout the history of the church and no one noticed? That aside, those two writers grappled with the challenge Friedman saw. This section is probably four stars.

Then part three he discusses science and Kabballah. I admit he lost me here. The science is interesting, though perhaps already a bit dated twenty years later. Maybe its me not really being a science person, or just that while scientific things challenge some I have never seen it as a problem. In other words, God's silence is a challenge to me. Evolution or big bang? Shrug. But its not that it doesn't connect with me, it didn't seem to connect to the rest of the book.

So overall, the first two parts are four stars but part three brings it down to three.