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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
Our generation is desperately in need of a Great Transformation of our own. This is yet another example of how studying the past can give us hope for the future. If humanity can survive the disasters of this wide-spread period, we can focus on developing our compassion for future generations, too.
wonderful view into the Axial Age of religious thought across Greece, China, Israel, and India. This is an amazing primer for several of the world’s great religions.
informative
slow-paced
informative
slow-paced
I cannot even explain why I persevered through this very long book. I do enjoy reading about religions, different religions, and I heard this book was a good one. Maybe the Axial age was just too far back for me to be able to grasp the thought process of those people during those times. I did appreciate learning more about things that are referenced in the Old and New Testaments, but the references seemed vague, probably because historical documentation during this age was sometimes vague, slight or unrecorded and inferences are taken from other sources and records.
My baby addled brain couldn't handle this on audiobook--I just couldn't follow any of the text and it wasn't riveting enough to keep me involved. I think I would have really enjoyed this with about a million hours more sleep than I'm getting. Perhaps I'll come back to it later.
The Great Transformation is a fantastic book! It gave me a lot of new insights in how the religions and philosophical ideas as we know them today came into existence.
Upon finishing it I had the idea that I learned a lot about the period 1000 B.C - 100 A.D. The Book covers the Greeks and their invention of the Gods and Titans, and later on discusses the well-known Greek philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. It covers the origins of Buddhism, Hinduism and where fore example the words karma, samsara (reincarnation), yoga and nirvana come from. The third main theme it covers is the Middle-Eastern story and the saga of how everything all ended up at Yahweh and not for example at Baal. The last main geographical region it covers is that of China, its formation and how religious/philosophical ideas formed in that particular area.
As I am an atheist, or better said (as Hitchens would've) an anti-thesis I think that religion is the source of quite a lot of evil in this world. People believing in dogma's and certain doctrines because it is written in some ''holy'' book is not a right vantage point to take I believe. I always wondered where these different religions and how they evolved over time. I found answers to those questions in this book.
I recommend this book to everyone interested in the subject of religion/philosophy/history.
Upon finishing it I had the idea that I learned a lot about the period 1000 B.C - 100 A.D. The Book covers the Greeks and their invention of the Gods and Titans, and later on discusses the well-known Greek philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. It covers the origins of Buddhism, Hinduism and where fore example the words karma, samsara (reincarnation), yoga and nirvana come from. The third main theme it covers is the Middle-Eastern story and the saga of how everything all ended up at Yahweh and not for example at Baal. The last main geographical region it covers is that of China, its formation and how religious/philosophical ideas formed in that particular area.
As I am an atheist, or better said (as Hitchens would've) an anti-thesis I think that religion is the source of quite a lot of evil in this world. People believing in dogma's and certain doctrines because it is written in some ''holy'' book is not a right vantage point to take I believe. I always wondered where these different religions and how they evolved over time. I found answers to those questions in this book.
I recommend this book to everyone interested in the subject of religion/philosophy/history.
The Great Transformation: the Beginning of Our Religious Traditions by Karen Armstrong (1980)
Much as I’d like to just leave my review to one word, fascinating, I don’t think that would be sufficient.
So, this book left me feeling just a bit uneducated as I know practically nothing about all but one of the religions discussed but I did find it curious, as obviously the author has, that all three would have such similar ideas at approximately the same time. The progression of each religion based on their geographical area and societal influences as well as their ultimate conclusions, which while laudable don’t seem to have been followed very well through the centuries, made for some thought provoking reading.
While the conclusions of the book came across to me as simplistic to the point of being boiled down to ‘be nice’, the lead up to that and all the historical elements were very well presented.
So, this book left me feeling just a bit uneducated as I know practically nothing about all but one of the religions discussed but I did find it curious, as obviously the author has, that all three would have such similar ideas at approximately the same time. The progression of each religion based on their geographical area and societal influences as well as their ultimate conclusions, which while laudable don’t seem to have been followed very well through the centuries, made for some thought provoking reading.
While the conclusions of the book came across to me as simplistic to the point of being boiled down to ‘be nice’, the lead up to that and all the historical elements were very well presented.
In the Great Transformation, Karen Armstrong traces the origins and development of spiritual thought during the Axial Age. The Axial Age was a period between approximately 900 - 200 BC, in which new philosophical and religious concepts emerged in four disparate regions - namely China, India, Israel and Greece - and which still have a lasting impact on our world today.
Armstrong does an admirable job of expounding the political and social situations of the period, and how they eventually developed into the new schools of thought. Although the situations in the four regions are highly different, they share some striking similarities as well. The Axial Age was a very violent and unstable period, and the new schools of thought are all arisen from the same basic need for a better life, in which compassion, understanding and tolerance all play an important role.
Through all this, Armstrong attempts to impart a valuable lesson which we would do well to heed in our time and age. Instead of focusing on the differences between the different religions, we would do well to remember that these differences evolved out of the very particular needs and situations of the people of that time, but that they ultimately all share the common ideals of compassion, understanding and tolerance. Religious thought should not be dogmatic, but should rather be a guide towards achieving those ideals.
Or to use one of Buddha's metaphors in the book: "In just the same way my teachings are like a raft, to be used to cross the river and not to be held on to."
Armstrong does an admirable job of expounding the political and social situations of the period, and how they eventually developed into the new schools of thought. Although the situations in the four regions are highly different, they share some striking similarities as well. The Axial Age was a very violent and unstable period, and the new schools of thought are all arisen from the same basic need for a better life, in which compassion, understanding and tolerance all play an important role.
Through all this, Armstrong attempts to impart a valuable lesson which we would do well to heed in our time and age. Instead of focusing on the differences between the different religions, we would do well to remember that these differences evolved out of the very particular needs and situations of the people of that time, but that they ultimately all share the common ideals of compassion, understanding and tolerance. Religious thought should not be dogmatic, but should rather be a guide towards achieving those ideals.
Or to use one of Buddha's metaphors in the book: "In just the same way my teachings are like a raft, to be used to cross the river and not to be held on to."