Mention Regarding Books A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
| Title | : | A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam |
| Author | : | Karen Armstrong |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 460 pages |
| Published | : | March 2nd 2004 by Gramercy Books (first published 1993) |
| Categories | : | Religion. History. Nonfiction. Philosophy. Islam. Spirituality |
Karen Armstrong
Hardcover | Pages: 460 pages Rating: 3.87 | 42282 Users | 1441 Reviews
Relation As Books A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Over 700,000 copies of the original hardcover and paperback editions of this stunningly popular book have been sold. Karen Armstrong's superbly readable exploration of how the three dominant monotheistic religions of the world - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - have shaped and altered the conception of God is a tour de force. One of Britain's foremost commentators on religious affairs, Armstrong traces the history of how men and women have perceived and experienced God, from the time of Abraham to the present. From classical philosophy and medieval mysticism to the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and the modern age of skepticism, Armstrong performs the near miracle of distilling the intellectual history of monotheism into one compelling volume.Details Books Toward A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
| Original Title: | A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam |
| ISBN: | 0517223120 (ISBN13: 9780517223123) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Rating Regarding Books A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Ratings: 3.87 From 42282 Users | 1441 ReviewsPiece Regarding Books A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Karen Armstrong is a former Catholic nun and studied at Oxford. Her book, The Spiral Staircase, is a good description of the struggles that led to her leaving the convent. There have been several good books written on the historic Jesus Christ, but very few on the historic God. As other reviewers have noted, this is a somewhat scholarly book, which it would have to be if one wanted to thoughtfully trace back mans evolving beliefs on God. And, yes, over a sweep of 4,000 years, evolving isIf I could give a book six stars, I would give them to this book. I feel like I learned something new on nearly every page. This book is truly a history book on a grand scale. It reminds me of the type of history Will Durrant wrote, where he would take a period of time and write extensively about all the facets of history within that time. Armstrong, on the other hand, takes just one facet of history and writes extensively about it over a long (4000 year) period of time. Reading it has allowed
First of all, this book's title is misleading. It is not a history of God. It is a historical retelling of many men's interpretations of the idea of the monotheistic God of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.Still, "The Idea of God: A History" would not have sold as many copies.The Bible says God created man in His own image. Karen states as fact the exact opposite: Man created God in his own image, then re-created him a lot of times in response to changing historical and cultural conditions.Karen
Whew. I thought I'd never finish this book. But two months later, I somehow managed to get to the end. Now, what to say about it?I started this book knowing a moderate amount about the history of Christianity, a small amount about Judaism, and much too little about Islam. I relied heavily on my previous knowledge of Christianity and Judaism to make sense of Armstrong's extremely dense, often repetitive, and (to use her favorite word) esoteric prose. I found it a real challenge to keep up with
I still can't decide if it's good or not. That's that problem with being kinda dumb.
First of all, this book's title is misleading. It is not a history of God. It is a historical retelling of many men's interpretations of the idea of the monotheistic God of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.Still, "The Idea of God: A History" would not have sold as many copies.The Bible says God created man in His own image. Karen states as fact the exact opposite: Man created God in his own image, then re-created him a lot of times in response to changing historical and cultural conditions.Karen
This is one of those books that make me feel woefully deficient in a certain subject. Having never taken a comparative religion class, and in fact bordering on an antiestablishment stance when it comes to organized religion, I can only conclude that this book was not the place to start. The first couple of chapters which reviewed mankinds evolution from a polythesim to the monothesims of Judiasm, Christianity, and Islam were interesting, and for me blessedly linear and understandable. From
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