Reviews
.In this fascinating and unique work, Overbeck has produced what many consider the best philosophical critique of atheism written in many years. It takes the forms of letters, some of them taking on an almost Surreal quality... This is a remarkable work..
Praxis Books
It is very hard to know how to describe this book. 'The Autobiography of God Almighty' is a collection of writings; letters, essays, notes and fragments, which plugs the reader into the mains circuit of a truly extraordinary being. A being who lays claim to powerful states of deificatory experience and who describes this in eye-opening detail and with incomparable analytic powers.
The central impulse of the work, which is explored in various ways and often in great detail, is to probe the meaning of the experience called Theosis by the Greeks; an undertaking that necessarily requires the authority of first-hand participation in order to evoke its realities and implications. This means you are reading the words of an engodded author, one whose credentials for writing such an autobiography are unsettlingly unique. Jim Overbeck is a remarkable intellect by anyone's standards, and this book shows some of the genius and some of the wisdom derived from years of living in profound closeness to God.
In passing through these pages you will be challenged intellectually, emotionally, and psychologically by line after line of what you read. Specifically, the book presents an encyclopaedic array of thoughts upon and responses to the traumatic horrors of existence, the pleasures of erotic engagements, the mind-altering realities of divine presence, and by the by, offers a definitive analysis of the central foundations that underpin much of the history of philosophy, psychology and theology. You will grow a brain reading it. You will also be shocked and infuriated, frequently outraged and occasionally truly delighted. This is not a work for the complacent.
If you think God is a term best understood as a bland, endless splurge of 'spirituality' who can be given whatever name one wishes, then this book will give you something meatier to chew on. If you are one of those who think the significance of the human condition is conjured from memes dancing between opposable thumbs, then you are in for a real therapy session.
If you are a God-botherer whose version of the Almighty is as moronic as it is vicious, then do yourself and the universe a favour and have your repressed reflections cleansed by the living energies delineated in these pages. In fact, for anyone who wants to start exploring what the word 'reality' actually means, this book was written for you – take a deep breath and dive in, there is no other book even remotely like it.
Mark Allen MA (Oxon)
I heard Overbeck lecture years ago, at Trinity, Oxford, to Mensa, and at the Byzantine Institute - an amazing mind & the creator of Non-Cantorian set theory. In this book he displays an incredible range of intellect, not surprisingly from a man I once heard explain pronominal suffixes for Arabic adverbs & show their derivation from Attic Greek - and this to a youngster (me) in a pub over a whiskey.
At the core of this book is a devastating critique of the assumptions underlying atheism. He attacks the very idea of 'human being' as false identity & demonstrates our immortal ancestry, explaining once we were gods, falling because of the war in Heaven. This volume is essentially about how to achieve the Vision of God through Christ Almighty & by means of this he lays waste the idols of philosophy & false theology. His particular ire is aroused by what he terms 'the thick end of the Protestant wedge', which he sees as akin to atheism.
There is much advanced use of philosophical Greek & German, but much of his argumentation is clear anyway. This is a book for highly intelligent minds, but there are also very frank declarations concerning 'deific sexuality' & 'hyper-sexuality'. Overbeck always asserted Jesus of Nazareth visited him, lifted him into Heaven, deified him & bestowed on him extraordinary powers. Unfortunately, none of Overbeck's astounding paintings on the Vision of God are included, but rumour has it Vol. II of this amazing work is ready for publication - hopefully this will include his art.
Professore K. Ralph
For what it is worth – there is nothing written (setting aside the wisdom and mysterious verisimilitudes of the Gospels) which I have come across, to my way of reading. that remotely approaches your own style, which is not of this world. Steph is very bright indeed and, academically, she writes better than me – it is her opinion also that your writing is incomparable. And this is before we get to the razor sharp analytic powers and, as I have been at pains to stress, intellect of your magnitude can only come from the grit, iron, and election to risen vision and experience. I suggest, absolutely, that to encroach negatively upon your work is tantamount to divine trespass and stealing.
I am not going to name any names, but I suspect that, even amongst "friends", your intellectual talents may have precipitated the kind of envy that the court composer has in 'Amadeus'. I am thinking of the scene where Salieri finds that Mozart has penned his score straight from mind to paper in one sitting. It does not mean that folks cannot raise questions - take, for example, the summary concept of 'the warp' and thus informed, use that perspective to arrive at a better understanding of the downward processes into sub-humanity and its senses e.g. your statement that the here, there and everywhere of libido is the prison and confusion of trying to divinely fuck oneself, mimetically through fallen flesh, back into the ecstasy of just being a god. God bless you kiddo, for being such a genius – at least some of ones friends recognize and love you for it. Besides, I have enough God-given intelligence and experience to appreciate it, especially in those realms where, for want of a word, it cannot help but be shared, and where, in the sharing, our laughter reigns.
A J Hill PhD cand ethno-methodology
I recently finished Overbeck's 'The Autobiography of God Almighty' and, believe me, this book turned my brain upside down. It as if huge screens were removed from my mind! Not that I understood everything, but I was struck as if by psychic lightning. Some of the sections on God (written to the author's wife) astounded me - elegant, profound, moving and written with a sublime eloquence, I was touched to know the Vision of God still reaches loving people. I warmly recommend this book to intelligent searchers, because his thoughts on the 'inhuman race' need to be widely known.
Amazing work - Dottoressa Daisy Gilbert
As the guiding hand behind Overbeck's Trinity college lecture, I highly commend this masterly writing to any elitist mind. I heard once he absolutely trashed a powerfully-situated professor in argument (on aphthartodocetic Monophysitism in the time of Heraklios), so I invited him to lecture to a select group on depth psychology in German Idealism. The result was similar to experiencing a thunderbolt head on, and my guests were stunned and delighted. Much of this sheer force and brilliance is contained here. As an expert on the Vision of God in Christ Almighty, it is almost incongruous to read of Overbeck's contest against a Chelsea artist and famed gigolo to seduce 1000 girls - hence the LSD sexual exploits make gripping reading. I particularly enjoyed the sections on the Super-Trinity, deification, and falsifications of earthly knowledge by the fallen (disguised) gods. Johny Depp should be in the movie as the overthrown 'cockster' - great stuff, indeed.
Direct experience of genius from N. Griffith MA (Oxon)
