Abstract
As a religious person, I believe that the evolution of species is the greatest sacred drama of all time. It is a purposeful process. There is a One within and behind the great diversity of life that seeks to be discovered, that has aimed all along, however imperfectly and stumblingly, to bring about the emergence of a mind that can know it, articulate it, and strive toward the moral greatness that will fulfil its purpose. I prefer to think of that One in immanent terms, a Being or lifeforce that dwells within the universe and resides in all its forms, rather than a Creator from beyond who forms a world that is 'other' and separate from its own Self. Within the few millennia that we call human history, the evolutionary process continues unabated, as ideas, images, and conceptions of the gods or God or the life-force grow and change with the times. This evolutionary approach to the history of religion will form the background for my treatment here of Jewish views on the subject of God, which I seek to address in the combined roles of scholar/historian and contemporary believer/struggler/theologian.