Book Review: Yuval Noah Harrari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow

Yuval Noah Harari is an Israeli historian at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who has written two New York Times bestsellers, Sapiens and Homo Deus. They are, respectively, his telling of the sweeping saga of human history and of an imagined future for his transhumanist aspirations. In many ways, they constitute a compelling salvation history for the secular soul. A mix of historical analysis and philosophical musing, his grand narrative provides answers to the big questions of the human heart: Where do I come from? Why am I the way that I am? Where am I going? For what should I hope? For some of my secular friends, it is a worthy rival of the Gospel as a sure guide for self-realization and fulfillment in a post-Christian society. Written in vivid language with memorable turns of phrase, Sapiens is a chronicle that captures the genealogy of our civilization from the perspective of three historical movements: the Cognitive Revolution about 70,000 years ago, the Agricultural Revolution about 12,000 years ago, and the Scientific Revolution about 500 years ago. For Harari, each of these revolutions enabled our human ancestors to better create “imagined realities” like gods, nations, and corporations. These “myths”—others would call them social constructs— facilitated the cooperation among large numbers of strangers and the rapid innovation of social behavior that together gave rise to human civilization. 974260 PRE0010.1177/1063851220974260Pro Ecclesia: A Journal of Catholic and Evangelical TheologyBook Review book-review2020