The Left Hand of God

Adolf Holl's divine biography examines the life of the Holy Spirit in the context of the history of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Interweaving scholarship with religion, myth, and culture, Holl expertly traces the influence of the Holy Spirit on men and women from all walks of life, down the centuries. The result is quite unlike anything written before. The Jews recognized the Holy Spirit as the breath of God. He motivated a few Galilean fishermen to find the courage to preach a new world religion. Mohammed was inspired by him in the dictation of the Koran. Yet this same spirit has moved individuals to rebel against convention, authority, and even sanity. Through Holl's freewheeling, yet always crystal-clear discourse, readers see how the Holy Spirit informs an incredible array of beliefs (the rituals of Appalachian snake handlers) and ideas (the works of Freud and James Joyce, among many others). When the book was published in Germany, Der Spiegel wrote, "Holl has presented a formidable history, linking together the most distant things in a surprising way and leaving the whole as a paradox. He leaves it to the reader to judge the encounter with the Holy Spirit as a manifestation of the divine in the human being -- or as a case for the psychiatrist". Whatever the conclusion of readers may be, "The Left Hand of God" is a significant contribution to the understanding of the elusive Holy Spirit.