Title: Having Coffee with God: Can Religion Change Monotheism
Author: Benjamin Abrahams
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 9781663202659
Pages: 120
Genre: Religion/Biblical Studies
Reviewed by: Lisa Brown-Gilbert

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Both an author and ordained minister Benjamin Abrahams, succeeds in challenging the spiritual psyche as well as the imagination with his theological based narrative, Having Coffee with God: Can Religion Change Monotheism.

Instantaneously engaging, this intelligent work flows from the multiple perspectives of its four central characters: Sam, Beck, Gia, and Tahn, who meet twice a year at the same coffee shop for coffee and catching up. Each character is equally engaging, owning a distinct personality, while also varying in ethnicity and approaches to religion, life and science. As the group of friends interact, they create a winning philosophical discourse integrating elements from both a biblical and historical stance focusing on religion and the belief system of monotheism, ultimately providing plenty of food for spiritually focused thought.

Moreover, this work as well incites the imagination as the story is fraught with an intriguing science fiction element, which allows for the friends to experience moving back and forth through time via connecting to and watching an Internet video. Throughout the book, alternating scenes transport them from the modern Truro Coffeehouse to ancient locales where they experience everyday life, as if living out past life experiences. There is a thoughtful exploration of superstition and customs, as well as religious tenets, seen through the friends’ individual perspective as inhabitants living in those ancient eras.

Initially, the first video takes them back in time to Ghana, 20,000 BCE, the age of hunter-gatherers in which they explore the religious expression at that time which was animism, a belief that everything is supposed to be possessed by a supernatural intelligence. Then, the next video takes them to Turkey 5,500 BCE and the agricultural revolution where polytheism was the primary belief system. Consecutively, the story moves on to a video of them in London 1675, CE known as the age of Enlightenment where they examine religious wars, scientific advances and the progression of religious beliefs. The following video takes the friends to Berlin 1900 CE and the first Industrial revolution, focusing on German philosophers. Next video moves into a more modern venue; Santa Barbara during the information age of 1993, where they delve into advances in science and technology and how they fit with religious belief systems especially monotheism which the older generation seems to be holding onto.

Altogether, Bravo, to author Benjamin Abrahams, I thoroughly enjoyed his work within Having Coffee with God which overall made for an intensely stimulating read, both historically expansive and spiritually stimulating in its scope, much like a well thought out Bible study lesson. I enjoyed the way the story artfully juxtaposes modern life and belief systems and ancient lifestyles and belief systems making this an edifying, rich, rewarding read, that I recommend especially, for the spiritually inclined.