God The Invisible King

by H. G. Wells

Overview

God the Invisible King is a theological tract published by H. G. Wells in 1917.

In God the Invisible King, Wells regards belief in God as welling up from within the individual: "if you do not feel God then there is no persuading you of him; we cannot win over the incredulous." The book argues that God seeks "the conquest of death," through a struggle to "transform the world into a theocracy" that he regards as "more and more manifestly the real future of mankind," not through suffering or non-resistance. Sin is seen not as bad conduct but as the product of disharmonies of "the inner being" that "snatch us away from our devotion to God's service" and such weaknesses "cannot damn a man once he has found God."

A final seventh chapter rejects the idea that "the new religion" can or should be organised into a church: "Whatever religious congregations men may form henceforth in the name of the true God must be for their own sakes and not to take charge of religion." In a section titled "The State Is God's Instrument," Wells speaks of a coming "theocracy" and argues that in the probably not too distant future "Religion which is free, speaking freely through whom it will, subject to a perpetual unlimited criticism, will be the life and driving power of the whole organised world. So that if you prefer not to say that there will be no church, if you choose rather to declare that the world-state is God's church, you may have it so if you will.

This book also includes the following:

1. Illustrated author biography
2. Author bibliography
3. Author facts

Product Details

BN ID:	2940162640431
Publisher:	Madeley publishing
Publication date:	07/30/2020
Series:	True Classics
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	589 KB

About the Author

H.G. Wells (1866–1946), born Herbert George Wells, was an English author known for not only his popular science fiction books but also works of social commentary, history and biography. His first novel, The Time Machine, was published in 1895. Socially progressive and visionary in intellect, H.G. Wells became one of the most prolific writers of his generation. Through books like The Invisible Man, The Island of Doctor Moreau, and War of the Worlds, Wells delved into a plethora of social, philosophical and political ideas through the medium of what we now call science fiction.

Date of Birth:

September 21, 1866

Date of Death:

August 13, 1946

Place of Birth:

Bromley, Kent, England

Place of Death:

London, England

Education:

Normal School of Science, London, England