Reader Reviews
The following review was posted unsolicited in March 2012 (please click):
An earlier review is reproduced here with permission (please click):
A later review (March 2014) is reproduced here with permission (please click):
Additional reviews follow below, again with permission:
Your book is absolutely genius! It has changed my life but I am not disappointed, so much about having spent my entire life to this point "blind". Instead, I am relieved and grateful to be able to see the light - finally. Thank you so much for that gift! I feel like I have been peeling an onion - one layer at a time - and I am finally getting close to the core.
I am only about halfway through the book and try to fit it in around my family obligations, etc. - but one thing I keep coming back to is this: The evidence you present to support your conclusions is so much more convincing than anything the church offers because they really do not offer evidence. Catholics are supposed to just accept it. Even when Catholic apologists point to scripture to justify their claims, it usually doesn't even match.
You have made your case and have done so in a way that is easy to understand, though a bit hard to digest only because of long-held beliefs that had no basis.
KB, Illinois, USA
Let me say what a terrific book is Why Call Me God.
It is an excellent contribution to a true understanding of the Jesus myth, revealing numerous subtleties and nuances lost in translation.
KH, Sussex, UK
I have just finished reading your book, and indeed your website.
I have read many books regarding the origins of Christianity, many of them well researched and convincing but I have always come away from them with unresolved questions.
I have found with your book a succinct explanation and I do not have any such questions, it seems to have explained a lot.
Your explanation of The Lord God in Genesis was, to me, a revelation. I've since done some searching for this theme, and sure enough it is not an uncommon theme in antiquity. With this basis firmly set, the rest of the book follows.
One puzzle that does sit with me is how on earth such an explanation has been subjugated for so long?
JS, Worcestershire, UK
... over the weekend he gave me your book and I have spent the last 5 days reading it (could not put it down).
I find the central idea very convincing and am most impressed by the consistency and logic of the argument and the great amount of detail having to do with the texts. I studied Greek also, so am familiar with the alphabet and some of the words but can't pretend to follow all the detail (I take your word for it).
I was also raised Catholic and really your book explains a whole lot that to my ears often seemed difficult to understand or downright illogical. If I go to Mass now I will be listening with 'new' ears, for example last Sunday had to do with the Pentacost about which you had interesting things to say.
Your central thesis is in a sense quite 'shocking', yet it is hard to argue with.
PG, Los Angeles, USA
In the wake of several recent books emanating from the Nag Hammadi trove, Hatfield, in his ground-breaking book Why Call Me God?, takes us into the unknown through his unravelling of riddles and mysteries encased in the ancient scriptures that have come down to us as the modern Bible.
His retranslation of the ancient Greek source provides clues that he astutely and logically interprets. The conclusions are indeed thought-provoking and the reader becomes Gnostic in the true sense of the term, that is knowledgeable about the true messages of these scriptures.
Able to decipher the ancient Greek, this reader came to a few insights on her own. For one, the writers of these ancient scriptures, in putting forth the notion that woman [is] made by the lesser god, were likely of a patriarchal mindset. Their words insinuated that a woman is of lower status than man and is thus obliged to obey her man. Also, these writers, being Gnostic, found a way to understand, be knowledgeable about the origins of the world's evil ways through their dualistic approach to religion and the mysteries of the unknown.
On the other hand, could it be that these scriptures were actually an ancient manifest for the simpler lifestyle, e.g. a herder's life which was perceived as good, as opposed to the farmer's lifestyle, perceived as evil, the latter then giving rise to towns and cities (and modern life as we know it)? In any event, they are writings left by an ancient group trying to understand the mysteries of life.
So, now that we have become knowledgeable, what should we believe in? The answer provided by these ancient writers as perceived by this reader was listen to one's heart, see with one's heart and all becomes clear!
A must read for the curious woman or man, especially anyone interested in ancient history, philosophy, religion, comparative religion and/or the great mythologies of this world, even if one does not fully agree with the findings.
BF, Geneva, Switzerland
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