Kings and Their Gods

Andrew Greeley
-- priest, popular author, social critic
"In this powerful and disturbing meditation on the books of Kings, Father Daniel Berrigan, with all his usual prophetic fervor and scalding wit, compares Israel in the time between David and Isaiah with the United States today. The implications may keep you awake at night."

Joan Chittister
-- author of Welcome to the Wisdom of the World
"Daniel Berrigan's Kings and Their Gods is not one book but three. The first book in question is scripture's two books of Kings, which most people ignore. The second book is Berrigan's own poetic, piercing interpretation of the books of Kings. The third book is about us -- our country, our times, ourselves. In each case, the language is elegant and the narrative is dramatic and chilling. Most of all, Berrigan's interpretation is disturbingly real, frighteningly true. My advice is to read this book with the scripture in one hand and the newspaper in the other. But whatever you do, read it. Once you do, you'll never think of the books of Kings as useless history again. On the contrary, you may think of them all the time."

David James Duncan
-- author of The Brothers K
"I can think of few men I admire so much, yet am so grateful not to be, as Daniel Berrigan. This man's life has been given to dark witness. Working with his back to the sun, delving in the shadows of earthly power, he has self-abnegatingly pinned tails on the donkeys and elephants of American Empire for half a century. Some find truth via fear of God, some via love for God. Grateful as I am to count myself among the latter, I thank this poet-hero of the former. Father Berrigan's life has been a tireless song of protest against all that Love cannot bear."

Eugene H. Peterson
-- author of The Message
"Stunning. Irreverent. Incisive. This bold Berrigan midrash on the books of Kings brings the American way into prophetic biblical focus. Won't we ever learn? But with Dan Berrigan among us, we are not without a witness."

Word & World
"A highly readable, winsome, and accessible pastoral offering."

Cistercian Studies Quarterly
"Daniel Berrigan brings his own prophetic life, his gift for poetry, and his knowledge of Scripture to bear on these two ancient history books with an agonizing honesty that calls forth a similar honesty in the reader."

Mennonite Brethren Herald
"Berrigan's skillful use of words and brilliant turns of phrase make this commentary a joy to read. . . . An outstanding work."