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The voice announced, “I am God.” For Jerry Martin, that encounter began a personal, intellectual, and spiritual adventure. He had not believed in God. He was a philosopher, trained to be skeptical— to doubt everything. So his first question was: Is this really God talking? There were other urgent questions: What will my wife think? Why would God want to talk to me? Does God want me to do something? He began asking all the questions about life and death and ultimate things to which he—and all of us—have sought answers: Love and loss. Happiness and suffering. Good and evil. Death and the afterlife. The world’s religions. The ways God communicates with us. How to live in harmony with God. God: An Autobiography tells the story of these mind-opening conversations with God.

"An atheist philosopher finds himself in a surprising series of conversations with God.

One of the two main characters in Martin’s debut is the author himself, whose own Christian faith didn’t survive even a rudimentary college philosophy class, “where arguments for the existence of God were shot down like clay pigeons.” The secular philosopher opens his book with a quick account of falling in love with the woman who would become his wife, but the focus shifts almost immediately to a mysterious voice he begins sensing, identifying itself as “the God of all” and heard only by Martin. After a good deal of initial doubts, he decides to embrace the experience, even though at first it resembles “a training in obedience,” with the voice ordering him around on trivial matters seemingly at random. But gradually, larger issues and disclosures begin to surface. And Martin shares a great many of these revelations in an immensely readable prose that’s reverential but completely accessible to nonbelievers. His portrait of God is a remarkable dramatic construct, a vastly enigmatic being seized with an urge to unveil Himself in detail. This is a God who dwelled for unbounded ages in a formless void before existence began and He started to evolve along with it, shaping space and matter toward His eventual relationship with humankind, a process of creating Himself. Martin’s version of God is often every bit as argumentative and contradictory as the one found in the Bible, but this volume’s narration helps smooth things over: it’s easily literate (quotes from many authors abound) and excellent at clarifying the deep philosophical subjects covered as the dialogue progresses. Martin’s deity talks about being part of non-Christian texts like the Upanishads and the Mahabharata (and even discusses the “rebel” pharaoh Akhenaten), but nevertheless, this book chronicles one man’s encounter with the God of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Yet as such, it’s a revelation.

A captivating religious dialogue for the modern age." - Kirkus Reviews



"A really rewarding, fascinating and important read. In easy-to-read prose, Jerry Martin tells the story of a string of experiences he takes to be revelations from God, many of them conversations about his readings of the greatest texts of the world's religions. If these are really revelations from God, "important" is obviously an understatement. But even if not, Martin presents a fresh sustained take on what and how God might be and offers a plethora of useful spiritual insights. Either way this book is a veritable treasure trove for everyone from spiritual seekers to professional academics working on religion. "


"Jerry Martin's extraordinary book introduces us to two characters: the philosopher Jerry Martin himself, and the God who interrupts his hitherto atheistic life to deliver a series of incisive messages to him, and through him, to the world. You are going to be happy to have met both of them. Whatever one may make of Martin's experience of hearing the actual voice of God, Martin's earnestness, his intelligence, his erudition, and his often childlike curiosity, trepidation, and even consternation in the face of the communications he receives, will keep you turning the page to find out where it is all heading. And where it is all heading is both challenging, and, finally, inspirational. Martin's God is and isn't what we might expect of God; a God consistent with both the Old and New Testaments and quantum indeterminacy. Ultimately, however, a God of love who wishes a closer relationship with us. Anyone looking to deepen his or her spirituality, or just contemplate the mystery of existence, will find this a fascinating read - both a page-turner, and, potentially, a life-changer. "


"This book is a blessing and a revelation. Dr. Martin, a distinguished epistemologist by training, applies his extraordinary intellect and erudition to the most important of all human challenges: hearing and faithfully recording the voice of God. We are fortunate to have this epiphany from a scholar of such integrity and forthrightness. It is indeed a book that draws us closer to God, challenged ourselves to listen more carefully. Its message is an urgent one for our times, summoning us to stop partisan and parochial bickering and to recognize that all humankind have a role to play in the unfolding miracle of God and need to be part of that great destiny, embracing it in humility and love."


"A book by Jerry Martin is a brilliant exercise in philosophy of religion that is claimed to have been inspired by the author’s personal experience of, and communication with, divine power. The main theme of the book is the reinterpretation of major religious traditions in light of the concept of progressive revelation. In the center of the narrative is the evolving God who is trying to redefine his relationship with humankind by reasserting in a new light the eternal truths and the transformational nature of reality. A must read for anyone interested in mysticism and philosophy of religion."


"I'm a skeptic on matters of religion, but by no means an atheist. We know intelligence exists and life and species history tells us that it's been gaining in power - lately at a very rapid pace. That the universe owes its being to the operation of intelligence, if not demonstrable, is also not absurd. Nor is the possibility that such an intelligence might wish to communicate with us - its sapient, if lesser, fellows, and the fruit of its power. If that happened, he might well reveal himself as Jerry Martin believes he has to him.

"Jerry Martin's God is a thinking man's God, believable in history and expression. It is a God with a personality, who works through problems, who evolves in the company of his creation, who teaches but also learns, who has a strategy of revelation that makes various uses of individuals and cultures, who has a deep and complex past, and who can, as a guide, be alternately stern, sympathetic, even vulnerable. In short, this a God any thinking person would find it - as is altogether appropriate - an extraordinary privilege to spend time with. Jerry Martin, gives us that opportunity.

I can't say that this book served as a cure for my skepticism. But if I do eventually meet God, I shouldn't be surprised if he's much like this one."

"My walk with God has been extraordinary. Each step is filled with new discovery but also with questions. My journey and search led me to this book. At first I read it, afraid of what I would find, I was trying to wrap my head around my Biblical reading and studies; would this book cause me to lose the gentle balance I was finding? No, quite the opposite, God wants us to understand Him and He has sent Jerry Martin to help us find a deeper meaning in His Word and thus a deeper relationship with Our Father - The book made me laugh at times and cry with joy at others but mostly it made me think. I loved God - the book, and am delighted that it's timing seems so in sync with my own spiritual journey. A must read for anyone who is seeking or looking to build a deeper relationship with God."

Jerry L. Martin was raised in a Christian home. By the time he left college, he was not a believer. But he was interested in the big questions and so he studied the great thinkers. He became a philosophy professor and served as head of the philosophy department at the University of Colorado at Boulder and of the National Endowment for the Humanities. In addition to scholarly articles on epistemology, the philosophy of mind, and public policy, he wrote reports on education that received national attention and was invited to testify before Congress. He stepped down from that career to write this book.

Martin lives in Pennsylvania and is married to Abigail L. Rosenthal, professor emerita at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.