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197 reviews for:
A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Karen Armstrong
3.82 AVERAGE
197 reviews for:
A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Karen Armstrong
3.82 AVERAGE
Armstrong takes an indepth look at the histories of the three main monotheistic religious and examines their attitudes toward God and traces how the changes in their religious practices and ideologies caused people in different time periods to find their own understanding of God. A fascinating look at the history of religion. Armstrong raises some valid points questioning and clarifying the importance of religious belief and what qualifies as religious belief. Some of the sections are more difficult to get through and the whole book has taken me more than a year of reading off and on, but the ideas and understanding I gained from reading this book are well worth the difficultly and the length.
Hugely impressive book - does what it says on the cover. The author acknowledges that far too many people have used religion as a tool to coerce their followers and kill their non-believers - with no real distiinction between the 3 monotheistic religions.
Is God a superior being, or something else completely; and how have different philosophers and relgious leaders answered that question - with logic, mysticisim and oratory.
She concludes that there is a future for God, but only if people concentrate on the essence of God (compassion and love) and step back from all the hating.
It was written in 1993, and since then all 3 religions have taken massive steps to increase the emphasis on hating and killing. So I guess that means there is no future for God
Is God a superior being, or something else completely; and how have different philosophers and relgious leaders answered that question - with logic, mysticisim and oratory.
She concludes that there is a future for God, but only if people concentrate on the essence of God (compassion and love) and step back from all the hating.
It was written in 1993, and since then all 3 religions have taken massive steps to increase the emphasis on hating and killing. So I guess that means there is no future for God
A well written introductory history to the history of how the 3 major Abrahamic religions formed and changed.
Hard to read. Longgg chapters. Will defo pick it up again one day
Good place to start if you want to know why the "a Jew, a Catholic and a Muslim walk into a bar" jokes are funny.
Okay - I am marking this as read even though I only barely got through 100 pages. I tried to read it twice - and found it way too much work. It seems well thought out and researched - but there is so much information to fit into the pages since it covers thousands and thousands of years. This seems as if it is aimed at someone working on their PhD in philosophy/religion/sociology...I want something on this topic that doesn't require a reading pace of 10 pages an hour!
A really good overview of major movements in Islam, Judaism and Christianity in respect to their viewpoints about God.
I did feel like the author neglected a lot of the negative aspects of mysticism (particularly in modern Christian Eastern Orthodoxy). Their views on the nature of god haven't changed on paper, but some of the core beliefs have been used as a tool of the state in a negative way. I know Armstrong largely eschews the political aspects of these religions (for example Zionism is mentioned only very briefly. Not to mention Cromwell's Great Britain), but I feel it's worth a mention. Also, in my understanding of their theology, EO's mystical God is still very gendered. The male- only priesthood is also very problematic.
I did feel like the author neglected a lot of the negative aspects of mysticism (particularly in modern Christian Eastern Orthodoxy). Their views on the nature of god haven't changed on paper, but some of the core beliefs have been used as a tool of the state in a negative way. I know Armstrong largely eschews the political aspects of these religions (for example Zionism is mentioned only very briefly. Not to mention Cromwell's Great Britain), but I feel it's worth a mention. Also, in my understanding of their theology, EO's mystical God is still very gendered. The male- only priesthood is also very problematic.