Does the Biblical View of God Bother You?

James Kugel makes a pretty compelling argument that ancient readers of the Bible viewed God in a completely different manner than we do now. We tend to view God as universal, omnipresent, omniscient, and remote, while early Biblical texts view God as close to this world and to humanity. In Tanach God reveals himself, people literally hear and see God (almost invariably after a “moment of confusion”), and he certainly doesn’t appear to be omniscient or omnipresent. (None of that "daber torah bilshon bnei adam" apologetics, please.)

Kugel suggests that “early is not necessarily better than late” and that perhaps the God of the Bible needs to be revisited in today’s theology. But it kind of bothers me that my religious ancestors believed in a very different deity - forgetting about our early polytheistic history.

Does the idea that we haven’t always viewed God in the same way bother you, particularly when it’s his book that’s describing him in the unconventional way?