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A review by benlundns
A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam by Karen Armstrong
Did not finish book.
This book is terrible.
I am a religious person, a casual scholar of religious history, (mostly ancient Israel orientated), and I have taken several courses on early religion with leaders of other faiths to give myself what I consider a well-rounded and open approach to religion and different ways of understanding religion. WIth that being said, I have never read a book so full of misunderstanding, mistranslations, and flat out twisting of references to get them to say what she wants.
I got about halfway through the first chapter, the author seems to ignore the wealth of information and research that is out there, from theological sources as well as peer-reviewed journals. A perfect example is when she talks about the building of stone altars and the renaming of an area as a carry-over from Caananite fertility cults, while more current research has shown evidence of these types of standing stones altars and renaming to have been practiced by Jews/Hebrews/Israelites from as early as 2000 BCE and as recent as 600 BCE. It seems to have died off with the increased orthodoxy of the Pharasies inside Jerusalem around this time.
Anyways, I quickly reached a point where I could no longer read the book, due to one inaccuracy after another. I find it hard to believe that someone who spent some time as a nun (as she claims in the introduction), could come away with so little knowledge of the history of religion or how God is viewed.
If you want to learn more about religious history or understand more about how to view God, than Bravo. But be aware, this is not the book to do it.
I am a religious person, a casual scholar of religious history, (mostly ancient Israel orientated), and I have taken several courses on early religion with leaders of other faiths to give myself what I consider a well-rounded and open approach to religion and different ways of understanding religion. WIth that being said, I have never read a book so full of misunderstanding, mistranslations, and flat out twisting of references to get them to say what she wants.
I got about halfway through the first chapter, the author seems to ignore the wealth of information and research that is out there, from theological sources as well as peer-reviewed journals. A perfect example is when she talks about the building of stone altars and the renaming of an area as a carry-over from Caananite fertility cults, while more current research has shown evidence of these types of standing stones altars and renaming to have been practiced by Jews/Hebrews/Israelites from as early as 2000 BCE and as recent as 600 BCE. It seems to have died off with the increased orthodoxy of the Pharasies inside Jerusalem around this time.
Anyways, I quickly reached a point where I could no longer read the book, due to one inaccuracy after another. I find it hard to believe that someone who spent some time as a nun (as she claims in the introduction), could come away with so little knowledge of the history of religion or how God is viewed.
If you want to learn more about religious history or understand more about how to view God, than Bravo. But be aware, this is not the book to do it.