What sort of "person" is God? Is it possible to approach him not as an object of religious reverence, but as the protagonist of the world's greatest book--as a character who possesses all the depths, contradictions, and abiguities of a Hamlet? In this "brilliant, audacious book" (Chicago Tribune), a former Jesuit marshalls a vast array of learning and knowledge of the Hebrew Bible to illuminate God--and man--with a sense of discovery and wonder.

Can God's life be written? --Creator --Destroyer --Friend of the family --What makes God godlike? --Liberator --Lawgiver --Liege --Conqueror --Father --Arbiter --Does God fail? --Executioner --Holy one --Does God love? --Wife --Counselor --Guarantor --Fiend --Sleeper --Bystander --Recluse --Puzzle --Absence --Ancient of days --Scroll --Perpetual round --Does God lose interest? --The Books of the Tanakh.