an historical thought experiment on weak, liberal gods

Another wonderful blurb from Touchstone (June 08), but again unfortunately, I don't have the author's name and can't find it on their website...

Imagine, for a moment, sending to the ancient world a missionary who preached modern liberalism, and wanted to tell everyone that the stories of the divine were only mythological ways of teaching them about brotherhood and other this-worldly virtues.

Drop him into the middle of 1st-century Antioch or Athens or Rome, into a world of powerful gods who might do something for you or to you, of occupational cults with intoxicating rites, or local religions that provided a community in a disordered world. It was a world where the gods mattered, where their reality was felt, even if they were feared or hated.

The punchline: derisive laughter...