A History of God: The 4000 Year Quest for Judaism, Christianity and Islam

About three-quarters good

My opinion of this book changed enormously during the course of reading it. This is not a particularly interesting subject to me, but I realize that it is an important one and Armstrong was recommended to me as a particularly good authority. I don't know enough about the literature of the field to say if this is generally worth reading for all its flaws, or if other books do the same job better. For the first half of the book Armstrong recounts the rise of Judaism, Christianity and Islam in a reasonably dispassionate and sympathetic manner; this is what I wanted. Viewing religion as a human historical event is, of course offensive to some, and I¿m sure that one hundred scholars would have one thousand objections to her facts and interpretations, but I would take that as unavoidable no matter how excellent the book. Armstrong has obviously done an enormous amount of research and she comes across as both learned and lucid. While it is not an easy read, I never felt puzzled by the concepts. I feel that I have learned a lot and reading this book has been worthwhile for me, despite my upcoming criticisms. I am also willing to cut her a little slack on the subject of Western Christianity; writing in English, she can assume that most of her readers are either familiar with the topic or at least have access to other sources. She seemed to be focusing upon the formal theology of the religions, and not the day to day aspects as experienced by the typical believer; when this struck me I reminded myself that this is not a cyclopedia of religion and she cannot cover everything. She then began to become a little partisan, dispraising Western Christianity and idealizing Islam, which I attributed to a laudable desire to enhance the Western view of Islam, although the attack portion of her program probably backfired with some readers. But as I read on, the work becomes more and more judgmental, personal and advocative. Armstrong¿s hatred of Western Christianity as the least mystical and most fundamentalist creed is revealed in ever stronger terms as she goes along. According to Armstrong¿s theses, Islam and Eastern Christianity should have produced societies that were more tolerant, eqalitarian, and generally possessed of fewer social ills than Western Christianity owing to what she considers to be their more advanced and healthier beliefs. I cannot say that all this has ever struck me as being so unfailingly true as to be self-evident, and she does not even attempt to prove it. Her coverage of the last couple of centuries seems somewhat spotty. Armstrong discusses the effect of European colonization of the Islamic heartland on Muslims, but says nothing of the effect of decades of Communism on any religion. Her section on the Jewish theological response to the Holocaust is somewhat sketchy, and there is little or nothing on the modern divisions of Judaism. Sikhism is briefly noted, but Bahai, oddly enough given her professed admiration for religious fusion, is never mentioned, nor is Mormonism. Meanwhile, and hardest to explain in terms of size limitations or focus, Eastern Christianity virtually vanishes from the book after the fall of the Byzantine empire. Armstrong sounds remarkably foolish to me for the last fifteen or so pages of the book; perhaps her apparent belligerence is to convince herself. Armstrong proclaims that the failings of Western Christianity make it too brittle to absorb change and have lead to the so-called ¿Death of God¿ and for the health of our society *we* need to create a vibrant new mystical faith to assuage the despair of humanity. I have visions of a pageant of piety for the benefit of the *less advanced* or perhaps Prozac communion wafers. This is where is becomes necessary to consider the typical lay person. Perhaps it¿s just my ignorance, but I thought that in dealing with the question of evil, the local clergy of mo

4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

Excellent Introduction to the Human Concept of God

As a religious Christian, I wish to thank Karen Armstrong for this wonderful book that taught me about the depth and richness of my religion and its history, as well as of other religions that believe in God. This is not an easy book, of course, but then who ever said that theology is easy? Flipping through the first few pages I was at first appalled at what seemed like blasphemy: ¿people invented a god¿? As I progressed in the reading, however, I understood a lot more about what the author means. While we do know stories about God from the collections in the Bible and other Holy texts, those stories are revealed and we therefore cannot collect more by our own scholarly means. This is therefore not a history OF God itself, since the God Christians, Jews, and Muslims believe in is beyond time, beyond history. ¿History¿ itself is a human concept, and therefore the only history we humans can write about is HUMAN history. What Armstrong has delivered to us here is a very thorough and dispassionate history of the human CONCEPT of God. Viewed in that light, the book is actually a very reasonable introduction to the three Western religions. The ideas in the book furthermore are no different from the material taught in theology seminaries ¿ it¿s just that we lay people are not taught or conditioned to think critically about these issues, and so we tend to hold our prior understanding as dogma, rather continuing on the quest for a true meaning of religion. The book thoroughly describes the evolution of the concept of God, and how every generation of humanity brought a refinement to the idea. Thus we see how early Judaism divorced itself from the multiplicity of pagan gods while retaining some of the pagan legends; how the Judaic God later evolved to that of the Pharisees and Rabbi Hillel, then the Cabbalists, then the reformers; how Christianity at the same time evolved in a path separate from Judaism; and later fragmented into many branches. One even learns about the relationship between Hinduism and Buddhism to the Judeo-Christian traditions. This evolution is traced all the way to the present day, where the concept of God has been transformed but nevertheless remains. In parallel, Armstrong also explores Islam with its various branches: Sunni, Shi¿a, Sufi, Ismaili, Alawite, Druze, etc. Since most people in the West are unfamiliar with Islam, Armstrong devotes somewhat more pages to it. This has led many critics to unfairly criticize her as being biased towards Islam. I however found her description and analysis of Islam to be as unbiased an accurate as the rest of the book, and quite as informative. You may be surprised, but after reading this book in full, my Christian faith has not been shaken a bit. Rather, based on the solid understanding I had gained, my faith only grew deeper and deeper. The book furthermore has pointed out to me many interesting references and ideas to explore about my religion and others discussed. I became particularly intrigued in mysticism and how close the mystic branches of all three religions are to each other. The index reads like an encyclopedia of everything you might want to know about religion. This is of course a major strength of the book. It is so comprehensive that the reader comes out with a very deep understanding of the subject matter. I myself read it slowly and took notes along the way, but found this exercise extremely rewarding. All in all, this is an excellent and highly recommended addition to your library. It is a book you¿ll want to keep and consult over and over.

4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

Well written but highly biased

This book appears to be written primarily from a christian perspective about other non-christian and some fringe christian religious movements. The author gives a brief overview of each religion and then goes on to explain why these religions are inacurrate or false, and how christianity is the truth and thus superior to all other religions.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

A great source for history and religious understanding

This book is the greatest book i've ever read. I learned about history of religion and the way other people view God. I've spent a lot of time studying religion so I already knew some of the things in this book. Karen Armstrong was able to keep the book interesting by not staying on one topic too long and making the book boring but she also was able to not leave out important information. I recommend this book to anyone who has any interest in reading about religion and history. It will make you think about how you view God and give you a greater understanding.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

A book about the history of God by someone who does not believe in God

I am not qualified to comment on the scholarship involved in the sections on Christianity and Islam. However the writing on Judaism seems to me to somehow ' get it wrong ' seems as if its done without any real understanding from inside. My real objection however to the book has to do with the strong sense that what Armstrong seems to be trying to do is replace the God of Abraham,Isaac and Jacob with ' Armstrong' I had the feeling that this is a book of a person who has lost faith in a personal God and so writes about God as if it were an impersonal subject.I may be wrong, and if so I am doing a real injustice to the author .I wonder what other readers think.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

This book fills in the gaps.

Read the first chapter and you will know exactly what Im talking about.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Hole In One

Very elucidative. I recommend this book to all people that are interested in actually learning something new. This book covers every religion there is. It will open your eyes about other religion's and how all are actually similar. It will also include how religion may just a moral belief.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Biased history

The first few chapters gave me the impression of an unbiased study of history, until I reached the chapter on Islam. I personally do not have a problem with Islam.The history shows however that people living beyond the arab peninsula like in Syria and Palestine were forced into Islam. They were given one of three choices by the muslim army: become a muslim, pay a tax and keep your religion, or die. So the author's repetetive statements regarding people joining the new religion with their own will is inacccurate and biased.

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Yet another plea for superstition and reaction

Karen Armstrong only confuses matters with her ignorant remarks about science and religion. She praises the pre-modern world because it understood that there were two ways of arriving at truth, Plato¿s myths (mythos) and science (logos). But mythos is not a way of arriving at truth it is an idealist philosophy which undermines knowledge and science by boosting belief and faith (i.e. wishful thinking and self-deception). She writes, ¿our education and society is [sic] fuelled entirely by logos.¿ If only this was true! In the real world, we have a government full of religious zealots, pushing for faith schools that promote segregation and superstition. The ancient illusions of religion and idealism are still with us and are still dangerous. We should oppose Armstrong¿s reactionary sermons: they have no place in modern society.

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Who Cares

I think it's great that someone finally came forward to show the world that there is no God.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

A Path To Spiritual Freedom

Tired with every Religion claiming to be the only way to salvation? Cannot reconcile proclaimed theological claims of dedication to peace for all mankind? Cannot fathom why so much blood has been shed by one Religion or the other in the name of God? Then engage the pages of this book and Armsttrong's thoroughly accesible presentation of complex and abstract religious myths. In the end, I am convinced of three things: first, that we are essentially Spiritual beings who will forever remain in search of the purpose of life, in search of God if you will. Second, instead of a fanatical adhereance to one faith or the other, we may well be able to expedite our search by studying the wisdom of all great Religions. And finally, seeking God is a very personal thing. Some may not need a Rabbi, a Minister, an Imam or Spirityual guide. Others may need such guidance. It does not matter. We must each seek God in a way that is suitable to our temperament. This is the radically liberating message of this book. Frankly, Armstrong is the only spiritual guide in my experience, who has pierced my heart and soul.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Unbiased and intelligent

This is a great book. Unlike many religious writings, this Armstrong writes as if from an outsiders perspective, thus producing a literary work free of bias. What Armstrong does is simply explain how humanities perception of God has evolved overtime and how this has been essential for the existence and preservation of monotheism. The book covers topics ranging from classical Greek philosophy to Oriental teachings as well discoursing the monotheism of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths.

As good as it gets....

A great book, an objective look at the evolution of faith formation in the West. Understanding of each others faiths is one of the most desperately needed things in the world today.

Weak on Process Theism

An otherwise fine effort falls short with Ms. Armstrong's account of process theism.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Tremendous book

Armstrong's book is not intended to be a primer for achieving spiritual well-being. It is exactly what the title says it is - 'A' (not 'the') History of God. She does an excellent job of explaining complex topics in a manner that informs the reader without dumbing down the content to the point of making it useless. I have read this book several times and get new things out of it each time. I can't recommend it too strongly for anyone interested in religious history.

Where is God?

I purchased and read the book when it first came out. I gave it away, it did very little for me. An AA meeting could have been better. I guess I didn't see a real God there, rather some god-gods. It reminds me of Armstrongism [or the World Wide Church of God], where everyone is a god within himself. The only thing I liked i suppose was that it didn't get bent on anyone Religion [be it Chrisitan, Islam or Jew]. I can't really understand how this book made it this far. I gave it two stars. Maybe one too many.

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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