Preface

Before our beginning, there was God ...

     One of the great unifying ideas that permeates all of the Abrahamic religions -- the religions derived from the biblical patriarch Abraham -- is the notion that there is an eternal God who created the universe.  For some three billion people -- for almost half of the world's population in the year 2012 -- one key idea is that before there was a universe, before there was even time itself, there was God.

     This great unifying idea of the Abrahamic religions is humbling because it suggests that mankind can never understand God.  God is, after all, beyond the physical universe, beyond time, and beyond the laws of nature.  God is simply beyond understanding, not only for now but for all time to come.

     Nevertheless, during most of our existence, we humans have struggled to know God.  Indeed, for many theologians, philosophers, historians, and even scientists, it is this struggle to know God which is the great story -- the great quest -- of humankind.  What follows is a retelling of the beginnings of this great quest.