Aldo Cazzullo, Il Dio dei nostri padri. Il grande romanzo della Bibbia , HarperCollins, Milano 2024, pp.333, € 19,50
This volume deserves to be known and perhaps read carefully. Here we present it according to these points: diffusion (1), content (2), reasons for its success (3), how to evaluate the text and use it (4).
(1). There are several reasons that motivate the presentation of this book. Let’s start from the simple but expressive fact: it was purchased at an affordable price and distributed in thousands of copies (we are talking about over 300,000 in 2024) in Italy and abroad, arousing curiosity and different opinions, generally of a positive tone, stating: “It is a book that I like, it is original because it touches the world of man in depth, it is inspired by the Bible so neglected in popular culture …”. We will give some motivated explanations later.
(2). As for the content, we immediately specify that the reference to the Bible in the title does not correspond to a new edition of the Bible (like the “Jerusalem Bible” or other renowned editions) nor to a volume of exegesis or scientific explanation of it. Although we must admit that the A. tries to be faithful to the text’s dictates as far as it suits his writing purpose. To understand the literary genre, it is first of all useful to know who wrote it. His name is Aldo Cazzullo (born in 1966), a brilliant and certified journalist for the “Corriere della Sera”, who does not declare himself openly Catholic, but a person fascinated by the Bible and therefore feels driven by a specific human and religious vision. A great Bible expert, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, reread the manuscript with him.
The author gives this motivation for composing this book: “Nobody reads the Bible anymore. Instead, the Bible is a wonderful book. That can also be read as in a great novel: the autobiography of God”, and we complete, “it is also the autobiography of man”. Therefore God and man, that is us, as a memorable book like the Bible speaks of them, which the Church understands as the “Word of God” and calls “Sacred Scripture”.
Let’s say right away that the author it is limited to the first part of the Bible called the Old Testament (OT) or first covenant between God and the people of Israel. There is no intention to exclude the New Testament (NT) or new covenant, that is, the story of Jesus and the Church at its origins. There are – it is true – significant references especially in the final chapter. It can be said that the choice of the OT is determined by the dominant intention of the A.: with the OT to make the mystery of man known with greater breadth and richness of signs to the man of today. This has led the journalist and writer to stage “human” characters who play a significant role in the story narrated by the sacred Book.
Of course, for Cazzullo it is not a question of making an abstract philosophy of who man is, but precisely by respecting the Bible, he intends to make it known that it is made up of real people, men and women, often protagonists of the story in which they are inserted. Eleven chapters emerge, each structured according to the main data regarding the character. The writing style is excellent, attentive to the biblical text without distorting its meaning with undue and impertinent additions, and at the same time clearly explaining certain linguistic and thought modalities of the Bible that are no longer ours, and therefore introducing a sort of rapid updating, wisely resorting to words and images of our time.
Here, then, are the contents as A. himself names them: the creation, Adam and Eve, the expulsion from Eden, Cain and Abel, Noah and the flood, the story of Jacob who wrestles with God and of Joseph who revealed the dreams of Pharaoh, Moses, the plagues of Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, the ten commandments, the conquest of the promised land, from Joshua who conquers Jericho to David who cuts off Goliath’s head, from Samson, the very strong hero but betrayed by his love, to Solomon who builds the temple… Some “great women” of the Bible are also told: Judith who beheads the enemy leader, Esther who saves the people from extermination, Susanna who sees her tormentors condemned. And then the angel who saves Tobias and the devil who torments Job, the love of the Song of Songs and the disillusionment of Qohelet (“All is vanity”). Up to the great hope of the resurrection, and of a savior who comes to redeem humanity: for Christians, Jesus (cf. pp. 321-322).
(3). Here the question becomes as necessary as it is inevitable: what are the reasons for the success? Many have expressed themselves: Christian men of culture, and also non-believers, common people with a prevalence of admiration and also questions. It is at this level of overall good impression that we must ask ourselves: why is it that a forgotten book has become a resurrected book. Cazzullo states as the reason for the success that the Bible «is a story that speaks of us», it speaks to us with an astonishing and attractive originality.
On this wavelength, it should be remembered that, with the participation of the A., “a special day” was set, divided into several meetings at a national level, with the title Discovering the secrets of the Bible («Corriere della Sera», March 23, 2025, p. 37).
(4). In an overall assessment, also taking into account the identity of the Bible according to scientific study, the attempt to speak of man to man according to a centuries-old experience of a people, who wrote the Bible as its founding memory, therefore appealing to God to speak of itself, should be recognized and appreciated. It truly attracts like a “novel”, as the A. calls it. But it should also be noted that existential explanations and applications are made that do not always fully respect the biblical meaning. In particular, it has been observed that when speaking of man before God, one does not speak of what God is before man, ending up speaking halfway about man himself. It is a matter of expressing more fully the relationship between man and God. The question therefore remains, perhaps for a future book: who is this God from whom the surprising and attractive humanity of biblical man springs, who has become in a certain way our traveling companion?
Cesare Bissoli
