A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam by Karen Armstrong

Oct 31, 2011 Paul rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: history-will-teach-us-nothing, god-botheration

A MAJOR PROBLEM WITH RELIGION

(You may have already thought of a few, but this is my current thing.)

Religious thought is metaphorical and the constant danger is that the unlettered will take the metaphor literally. For instance, the Holy Trinity in Christianity - sorting out a satisfactory formula expressing the relationships between God the Father & Jesus the Son & the Holy Spirit presented hideous problems which took around 300 years to resolve and - it seems to me - the whole enterpris...more

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Aug 07, 2008 Palsay rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history, phenomenal

Buku ini memang tebal, hardcover pinjaman neng Erry. Ternyata benar kata broda Graha, meski tebal (dan gada gambarnya ;)), namun tidak membosankan untuk dibaca.

Dalam buku ini, Ms. Armstrong menitik beratkan pada tiga agama samawi di dunia, dengan sedikit meyinggung Buddha, Hindu dan kepercayaan lainnya. Dengan merujuk pada para Tokoh filsafat dan religi dari masa kebudayaan Pagan hingga agama modern, Ms. Armstrong secara sabar menuntun pembaca untuk menemukan benang merah pada ketiga agama besar...more

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Mar 05, 2013 maha rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: religion-comparative, mythology

الكتاب موسوعة كبيرة سيستغرق وقتا طويلا لاكماله.. قراءة اساسية لمن يدرس الثيولوجيا (علم العقائد)، الميثولوجي (علم الأساطير) ومقارنة الاديان

سأذكر نقطة منه علقت بذهني

فهمت منه مفهوم شخصنة الاله.. عندما جسد البشر الاله بحيث يكون بعيدا، ليس كمثل اي شيء نعرفه، اصبح الاله بعيدا، ولم يعد البشر يشعرون بالقرب منه

فهنا جسدته بعض الديانات بصفات نفهمها نحن البشر ونشعر بها، كي نشعر نحوه بالتآلف والقرب، وهنا اختلف المسيحيون عن بقية الأديان الابراهيمية، بحيث أنهم حولوه الى رجل، أو أب حنون محب، بينما ركز المسلمون...more

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Jul 27, 2007 April Sheridan added it · review of another edition

I still can't decide if it's good or not. That's that problem with being kinda dumb.

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Jan 30, 2008 Leslie rated it 4 of 5 stars

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 he...more 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 her train of thought; her chapters are very long (as well as her paragraphs) and she has no sections or headings whatsoever to help prime and guide the reader. I came away with a much fuller understanding about the evolution of the concept of God in Christianity and Judaism, and a somewhat better understanding of the origins of Islam. But not knowing much about Islam to begin with, I felt at a disadvantage as I tried to follow along and take in the massive amounts of information she shares. This is not the right book to introduce you to any of these religions. You will gain much more if you already have a moderate level of knowledge.

On a personal note, as I am someone for whom religion (organized or otherwise) has played very little role in my life for close to ten years, this book sparked a great deal of introspective processes for me. Some of her writing confirmed my frustrations with organized religions while other portions encouraged me to have a more open mind about the innumerable ways to conceive of and worship God. I have appreciated this book immensely in this regard.

A final note: Armstrong seems to have considerable beef with Christianity, and to an extent Judaism, and she considerably elevates Islam above the other two. Just a note to be prepared for that if you read this book. It didn't bother me too much given that I don't consider myself a member of any of the three faiths or prefer one over the other, but I can see how it might really annoy others. It's not an attempt to be objective or balanced, by any stretch. (less)

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Dec 06, 2009 Anggun rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: religi

stop in the mid of book, maksud hati ingin mendapat pencerahan terkait sejarah agama2 monoteisme tapi bukannya semakin tercerahkan tapi malah semakin bingung. mungkin sebaiknya harus memiliki pengetahuan teologi yg memadai terlebih dahulu sebelum membaca buku ini.
buku ini juga menunjukkan bahwa Tuhan terlalu besar dan agung untuk dibahas dan dipahami secara rasional. perubahan definisi dan pemahaman akan Tuhan di tiap jaman dan bangsa bukan berarti bahwa Tuhan selalu berubah2 mengikuti perkemba...more

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Apr 24, 2013 Jay Delorenzis rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a phenomenal book. I've read this about 3 times. It has completely opened my mind about how religion works in the world. Karen Armstrong uses mind-numbing details to make her case as how the Bible became written and how we are to regard it. At the same time, we can have a personal relationship with that Being we call God. Religion is something purely human-made about a phenomena that is undeniable--God exists and He can exist purely for the benefit of the individual, however he or she de...more

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Jan 10, 2013 Arief Rahman rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history-biography-and-memoar, religion-and-philosophy, nonfiction

Karen Armstrong yang dulu adalah seorang biarawati dan kemudian meninggalkan ordo nya, kini lebih terkenal sebagai pemerhati dan komentator agama-agama dunia. Sudah banyak buku yang ia tulis yang mengangkat tema keagamaan dan juga biografi tokoh agama seperti Nabi Muhammad dan Sidharta Gautama. Kali ini dalam Sejarah Tuhan (gold edition diterbitkan Mizan tahun 2012) Armstrong membahas dengan lugas, secara gamblang namun mudah dipahami tentang tiga agama monotheis terbesar di dunia: Yahudi, Krist...more Karen Armstrong yang dulu adalah seorang biarawati dan kemudian meninggalkan ordo nya, kini lebih terkenal sebagai pemerhati dan komentator agama-agama dunia. Sudah banyak buku yang ia tulis yang mengangkat tema keagamaan dan juga biografi tokoh agama seperti Nabi Muhammad dan Sidharta Gautama. Kali ini dalam Sejarah Tuhan (gold edition diterbitkan Mizan tahun 2012) Armstrong membahas dengan lugas, secara gamblang namun mudah dipahami tentang tiga agama monotheis terbesar di dunia: Yahudi, Kristen dan Islam.

Dalam bab pendahuluan ada secuil kisah ketika Armstrong berada dalam sebuah ordo Katolik dan keluarnya dari ini yang melatarbelakangi ia menulis Sejarah Tuhan. Cerita ini menjadi awal yang menarik dan juga pembukaan dari pembahasan yang panjang dan padat akan buku ini. Bab-bab berikutnya adalah komentar Armstrong tentang sejarah "pencarian Tuhan" yang bermula dari agama-agama politheisme Mesopotamia dan bagaimana keyakinan mereka bersinergi dengan kisah pencarian Tuhan oleh Abraham dan sejarah awal Yudaisme. Pembahasan kemudian berlanjut dalam sejarah iman Kristiani dan bagaimana konsepsi Trinitas menjadi diterima dalam keyakinan Kristen. Agama terakhir yang dibahas adalah Islam dan hubungan agama yang dibawa Rasulullah ini terhadap 2 agama sebelumnya.

Tak hanya tentang sejarah Tuhan yang muncul dalam Yahudi, Kristen dan Islam saja namun Armstrong juga membahas tentang perkembangan spritualisme dalam ketiga agama tersebut terutama dalam hal filsafat dan mistikisme. Menariknya Armstrong menerangkan bahwa sufisme Islam mempengaruhi juga Kabbalah Yahudi. Terakhir Armstrong memberikan penjelasan tentang wajah ketuhanan yang baru dalam era Pencerahan, fundamentalis dan revolusi modern. Hal ini ditutup dengan komentarnya tentang bagaimana nasib Tuhan dan agama di masa sekarang.

Armstrong dalam bukunya memberikan pemahaman yang lebih luas akan sejarah agama samawi. Sangat seru untuk jadi bahan diskusi. Buku yang patut dibaca semua orang agar menyegarkan kita kembali tentang makna sejarah atas ketuhanan itu sendiri dan bagaimana lika liku perkembangan agama di dunia.(less)

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Feb 23, 2008 John rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: religion

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 ther...more 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 there things rapidly deteriorated as Armstrong ran through the impact and thought process that philosophy, mysticism, reform and enlightenment had on the three monothestic faiths.
These chapters were filled with dense pondorous examples of each of these disciplines, crammed wtih foreign names and terms, forcing me to reread pages and chapters, still without making much headway.
I hate to indulge myself this way, but to illustrate my point I quote from page 270 a part of a paragraph which starts, "Luria gave a new meaning to the original image of the exile of the Shekinah. It will be recalled that in the Talmud, the Rabbis had seen the Shekinah voluntarily going into exile with the Jews after the destruction of the Temple. The Zohar had identified the Shekinah with the last sefirah and made it the female aspect of divinity. In Luria's myth, the Shekinah fell with the other sefiroth when the Vessels were shattered." Granted, it is taken out of context, but it borders on reading a foreign language.
And it goes on...Further compounding the problem are a lack of any headings on subgroupings in Armstrong's chapters, which are composed of paragraphs that run nearly a page long each.
It is this amount of dense detail that continually makes rereading a necessity, rather than a luxury. I was tempted on multiple occasions to put this book down, and finished with a sense that I had read line for line the entire 2008 federal IRS tax code. Overall, not the place to start.(less)

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Jan 03, 2009 Camille rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: religion

If 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 m...more

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Mar 10, 2008 Barry rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: spirituality-religious-history

This book by Karen Armstrong covers the development of the world's three major monotheistic faiths. Although I am incredibly interested in the subject, this book was a tough read for me. It is very dense with information and I probably ended up skimming the text more than I should have. I'll most likely end up re-reading it some time down the road to gain a greater appreciation of the subject.

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Jul 12, 2012 Septri Lediana added it · review of another edition

Sejarah Agama-Agama Manusia

Karen Amstrong terkenal sebagai penulis dunia yang banyak menghasilkan banyak buku laris tentang agama. Buku berjudul ‘Sejarah Tuhan’ menjadi salah satu buku Karen yang menjadi buku terlaris berbagai negara, termasuk Indonesia. Pada buku ini ia menuliskan tentang sejarah tiga agama besar, Islam, Kristen dan Yahudi (Yudaisme).

Layaknya sebuah ensiklopedia, tiap-tiap agama dipaparkan Karen dengan sudut pandang yang objektif. Pemaparan tanpa keberpihakan. Karen tak menjel...more Sejarah Agama-Agama Manusia

Karen Amstrong terkenal sebagai penulis dunia yang banyak menghasilkan banyak buku laris tentang agama. Buku berjudul ‘Sejarah Tuhan’ menjadi salah satu buku Karen yang menjadi buku terlaris berbagai negara, termasuk Indonesia. Pada buku ini ia menuliskan tentang sejarah tiga agama besar, Islam, Kristen dan Yahudi (Yudaisme).

Layaknya sebuah ensiklopedia, tiap-tiap agama dipaparkan Karen dengan sudut pandang yang objektif. Pemaparan tanpa keberpihakan. Karen tak menjelek-jelekkan satu agama dibanding agama lainnya. Seperti sebuah buku sejarah, Karen menuliskan tentang ketiga agama tersebut berdasarkan berbagai pengetahuan dan informasi sejarah yang ia baca dan ketahui. ‘Sejarah Tuhan’ agaknya menjadi rangkuman dari informasi itu.

Untuk masing-masing agama dan keyakinan Karen membahasnya berdasarkan ciri-ciri mencolok masing-masing agama. Pada agama Yahudi ia memaparkan bagaimana agama itu datang dengan konsep Tuhan Yang Esa pada masa keyakinan akan banyak Tuhan (dewa). Bagaimana agama Yahudi kemudian secara kuat mampu melawan keyakinan kaum pagan yang mempercayai banyak dewa kala itu. Alhasil pembaca dibuat tahu bukan hanya tentang agama Yahudi, tapi juga agama kaum pagan.

Pada agama Kristen Karen lebih memfokuskan pada konsep trinitas agama Kristen. Ia membahas bagaimana konsep trinitas ini menjadi salah satu faktor penyebab berkembangnya agama Kristen. Namun, bukan hanya memaparkan tentang keunggulan konsep trinitas saja, Karen juga memparkan bagaimana kelemahan trinitas yang selama ini sering diperdebatkan oleh banyak tokoh berbagai agama. Lagi-lagi sebagai penulis yang objektif ia juga memaparkan bagaimana Agama Kristen yang menawarkan konsep keesaan Tuhan malah menawarkan trinitas yang seakan tak mengesakan Tuhan.

Untuk agama Islam, Karen menonjolkan bagaimana konsep Islam yang menawarkan keesaan Tuhan yang diperkuat dengan keindahan bahasa Al Quran yang sarat pesan perdamaian. Karen juga banyak membahasan tentang Nabi Muhammad SAW. Pembahasan Karen pada bagian agama Islam terkesan lebih banyak dan lebih kuat dibanding agama-agama lain. Karen memang terkenal memiliki pengetahuan yang mendalam tentang sejarah atau budaya arab pada masa pra dan pasca Islam.

Pada penjelasan tentang agama Islam terkesan kuat bahwa Karen menganggumi sosok Nabi Muhammad. Sebenarnya bukan hanya pada buku Sejarah Tuhan saja, Karen telah menghasilkan beberapa buku yang khusus bercerita tentang Nabi Muhammad.

Beberapa tokoh kalangan Islam berpendapat Karen lebih memihak pada agama Islam karena banyaknya pembahasan tentang Islam dan Nabi Muhammad. Dimana terlihat jelas dalam tulisan-tulisannya, Karen mengagumi sosok Nabi Muhammad, sebagai seorang pemimpin dan pendakwah agama. Ditambah pula dengan beberapa buku-buku Karen yang khusus menceritakan, memaparkan tentang Nabi Muhammad SAW. Namun, walaupun beberapa tokoh agama Islam berpendapat Karen memiliki ketertarikan pada agama Islam, Karen sampai saat ini tak memilih agama manapun untuk ia ikrarkan sebagai agamanya. Ia menyebut dirinya sebagai ‘freelance monoteism’.

Karen menunjukkan dirinya tidak berusaha memihak satu teologi manapun, ia hanya berusaha memahami secara empatik dan kronologis. Jikalau ada keberpihakan biasanya Karen memihak karena alasan moral dari dalam dirinya, yaitu keberpihakan pada teologi yang menjunjung kedamaian hidup di dunia. Salah satu pandangan subjektifnya yang bersumber dari harapannya akan kedamaian dan kebermaknaan hidup antar sesama manusia muncul dalam bentuk teologis perdamaian.

Karen juga menganggap Atheis atau keyakinan akan tak adanya Tuhan sebagai pilihan yang tak logis. Ia menganggap agama dan kepercayaan akan Tuhan sebagai kebutuhan yang tak bisa diacuhkan. Baginya manusia harus memiliki keyakinan sebagai pembimbing mereka menjadi umat yang baik. Ia beranggapan karena kebutuhan itulah orang-orang zaman dulu menciptakan karakter dewa-dewa.

Apapun pilihan Karen untuk tidak menganut agama tertentu, buku ‘Sejarah Tuhan’ yang disajikan dengan objektif layaknya ensiklopedia ini bermanfaat untuk mereka yang ingin mengetahui tentang sejarah tiga agama besar, Islam, kristen dan Yahudi. (Peresensi : Septri Lediana)

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Sep 07, 2011 Tom Ippen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, religion

This book would be difficult to process for anyone who didn't have at least some background in religious studies. It was recommended to me as a great way to "jump in" to the history of Abrahamic religions, but Armstrong's sources and references are obscure and complex. Beyond that, this book is bursting with tons of fantastic comparisons between Abrahamic and Eastern beliefs, and the level of detail in documenting every theological change, movement and debate for the last few millennia is incred...more

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May 17, 2009 M Mushthafa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

URL: http://rindupulang.blogspot.com/2001/...

Tuhan yang Menyejarah

Diskusi tentang Tuhan termasuk dalam kategori problem abadi yang tak kunjung mencapai titik final. Setiap zaman, bahkan sejak 4000 tahun yang lalu, manusia sebagai homo sapiens merekonstruksi konsep-konsep tentang Tuhannya. Tak jarang, bertolak dari konsepsi mereka terhadap Tuhan, lahir gerakan-gerakan sosial yang bersifat liberatif atau bahkan juga muncul tindakan “anarkis” demi menegakkan citra Tuhan yang mereka yakini.
Buku ini...more URL: http://rindupulang.blogspot.com/2001/...

Tuhan yang Menyejarah

Diskusi tentang Tuhan termasuk dalam kategori problem abadi yang tak kunjung mencapai titik final. Setiap zaman, bahkan sejak 4000 tahun yang lalu, manusia sebagai homo sapiens merekonstruksi konsep-konsep tentang Tuhannya. Tak jarang, bertolak dari konsepsi mereka terhadap Tuhan, lahir gerakan-gerakan sosial yang bersifat liberatif atau bahkan juga muncul tindakan “anarkis” demi menegakkan citra Tuhan yang mereka yakini.
Buku ini memerikan suatu peringatan dan pesan yang cukup jelas, bahwa kita semestinya tidak bersikap ahistoris terhadap konsep Tuhan yang berusaha dikenali manusia itu, bahwa ternyata sepanjang sejarah manusia nyaris memiliki konsepsi tentang Tuhan yang begitu beragam—bahkan dalam suatu periode. Buku ini secara cukup utuh menelaah pertumbuhan karakter tiga agama besar—Yahudi, Kristen, dan Islam—dalam mengkonsepsikan Tuhan dalam terang perspektif historis-sosiologis.
Ziarah intelektual yang dilakukan dalam buku ini sebenarnya bermula dari kekecewaan penulisnya, Karen Armstrong, setelah menyadari bahwa ajaran-ajaran agama yang dipelajarinya selama tujuh tahun menjadi biarawati Katolik Roma adalah hasil dari suatu konstruksi historis yang tentu saja bersifat subjektif. Kebenaran-kebenaran agama yang dikhotbahkan itu melewati proses subjektivikasi dan karena itu tidak dapat lepas dari konteks historis-sosiologis. Ini berarti gagasan manusia tentang Tuhan memiliki sejarah yang berbeda-beda antar-generasi, sehingga tidak aneh bila kadang konsepsi ketuhanan suatu generasi akan dipandang tidak cocok bagi generasi berikutnya.
Buku bagus yang terdiri dari sebelas bab ini memulai uraiannya dengan beberapa teori dan pemikiran tentang munculnya gagasan tentang Tuhan. Dengan mengutip beberapa pemikir terkemuka seperti Mircea Eliade, Wilhelm Schmidt atau Rudolf Otto, terungkap bahwa ternyata manusia memang cenderung memiliki kepercayaan terhadap yang gaib yang merupakan dasar dari setiap agama. Kepercayaan terhadap dewa misalnya merupakan contoh dari monoteisme primitif yang mempercayai adanya “Tuhan” yang menciptakan dan mengatur urusan dunia.
Semua konsepsi tentang Tuhan yang dikemukakan dari zaman ke zaman atau dari kelompok yang berbeda—mistikus, teolog, filsuf, saintis, dan sebagainya—terbukti tidak sepenuhnya harus rasional, logis, dan ilmiah. Hal ini semakin menegaskan bahwa sebenarnya setiap gagasan tentang Tuhan sebenarnya tidak sakral, karena ia mesti melibatkan penafsiran manusia. Ada semacam sisi pragmatis dari konsep tentang Tuhan, yakni asal ia bisa diterima oleh masyarakat. Muhammad misalnya, Nabi kaum muslim bertolak dari sebuah konsep dakwah yang pada awalnya cukup sederhana. Dia tidak berpikir bahwa dirinya tengah membangun sebuah agama universal (konsep Tuhan yang universal), melainkan justru menggunakan keyakinan kuno masyarakat Arab yang mengajarkan keesaan Tuhan kepada orang-orang Quraisy.
Kemudian, dalam perkembangannya, pada sekitar abad ke-17, mulai muncul gagasan-gagasan tentang ateisme. Diam-diam, beberapa kelompok mulai berniat menyingkirkan Tuhan dari kehidupan manusia. Periode ini tidak hanya spesifik dialami masyarakat Barat (Yahudi dan Kristen), tapi juga dialami kaum Muslim. Armstrong dalam buku ini memberikan suatu paparan menarik bahwa pada dasarnya ateisme itu muncul akibat ketidakcukupan konsepsi tentang Tuhan dalam mengikuti gerak roda zaman. Atau, bisa jadi ateisme ini muncul akibat merebaknya tindakan-tindakan mengerikan (pembunuhan, perang, dan sebagainya) yang dilakukan atas nama Tuhan.
Saat ini, memasuki milenium ketiga, konsepsi umat manusia tentang Tuhan dihadapkan dengan berbagai pemikiran semisal sekularisme atau spirit humanisme yang ingin menggantikan agama. Buku ini mengajak kita untuk menyegarkan kembali keberimanan kita dan pemahaman serta penghayatan kita terhadap Tuhan, menuju suatu kesadaran bahwa “sosok” Tuhan itu ternyata dapat ditangkap dengan spektrum yang amat luas. Buku ini menggelitik kita untuk melahirkan semangat dan gairah keimanan baru yang bermakna bagi masa depan manusia, agar iman kita itu tidak justru melukai nilai-nilai kemanusiaan.
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Jul 14, 2008 Joseph rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

tough read esp the middle part

but basically liked the end because:

(1) for believers - you'll see how the conception of GOD changes through time and it's sort of inevitable ( however real GOD is and can be). We fit GOD into our needs

(2) for atheists - that even at the end of the day when you remove GOD from your life, you'll end up filling that emptiness with sth else. Basically you still need that spiritual stuff there in your brain (whatever you call it)

Other salient points:
(1) one has to take...more

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Nov 23, 2009 Drake rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: philosophy, politics, religion

While this is an excellent summary of the history of the idea of God in Abrahamic religion, and I highly recommend it, I cannot give it five stars for third reasons. First, the author is overly generous in her assumptions concerning the literal interpretation of myth. For example, she asserts that the creation myths of Sumeria, Canaan, and Egypt were not intended to explain the origins of the world. Second, in her attempts at syncretism she sometimes overlooks very real, significant and extremel...more

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Jan 29, 2011 Tej rated it 3 of 5 stars

I had a really hard time keeping my attention focused on this one, but I think I was more at fault than the writer. I really enjoyed the last three chapters, which covered material that was already familiar to me. I think the words and concepts of the early days of Judaism and Islam were just too foreign for me to absorb. Lots of information to digest and even more thoughts to ponder. It's probably one I'll pick up again when I've done more studying.

As an inside joke to anyone who has studied We...more

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Apr 17, 2013 Zachary Zambo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In her 4,000-year account, A History of God, Karen Armstrong not only reveals the history but also delves into speculation on the future and death of God. Taking an objective approach despite her Catholic background, Mrs. Armstrong guides us along a thorough history of the three main God-religions undiluted by the biased teachings within their practice. Early on in the story it becomes apparent how much accurate detail is lost in temporal transition. However, despite the effect of time on the pe...more

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Dec 28, 2012 Erika RS rated it 4 of 5 stars

Armstrong excels in the art of story telling. In this book, she weaves the threads of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic history into a coherent story.

I learned from this book that all three of these faiths influenced each other throughout their development, and all three have constantly changing ideas of God. Each tradition struggles with the idea of a single, ultimate God. Certain questions come up again and again, changing the way that God and the tenants of the faith are understood.

Is God unive...more

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Dec 21, 2012 Michelle rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: religious-studies, judiasm

One of the best popular books on religion I've ever read. Many followers of the religions discussed (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) do not know the full history of their faiths. Working at a university, and as a religious studies major, I often encountered believers who did not want to know the factual history of their faiths, for fear it would cause them to lose faith. That is not the purpose of this book, nor should that be the result of learning truths. What this book can do is inform your fai...more

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Nov 18, 2012 Mitch rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, christianity

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...more 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 takes us from God's creation in the desert up to modern times. She carefully lays out the major players in God's revisions- people like St. Thomas Aquinas, Plato, al-Ghazzali, Luther, Nietzche and so on...the list is intellectually impressive and at times overwhelming.

In each case she ennumerates the person's beliefs. Instead of finding these 'brilliantly lucid, splendidly readable' as a Sunday Times reader once did, I found myself re-reading sentences repeatedly trying to get sense out of what I just read, and re-read, and re-read...

I could only take a roughly 20-page dose of this book per DAY. Granted, the book is primarily nonfiction and therefore a more difficult read.

-Except that it's not always non-fiction. Karen somtimes slipped her own opinions into her rendition of history without identifying that she was doing so. This tended to make her opinions seem objective.

I want to point out that my next statement is extremely subjective: I felt that since Karen herself has no belief in an uncreated God, she is rather like an observer who studies a dead butterfly and reports on it. She says a lot but has missed something crucial about the whole topic- and she'll never pin it to her board because her specimen isn't alive.

Ironically, she says this herself: “It is no good trying to understand religious 'information' that we have not experienced for ourselves.”

I did manage to mine some interesting quotes from the book- quotes from famous religious followers down through the ages.

Final note: I have misclassified this book as about Christianity and nonfiction because I did not want to create a new category for this single volume.(less)

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Aug 16, 2012 Gijs Grob rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, history, philosophy-and-religion, english

Uitputtend overzicht van zo'n 3500 jaar monotheïsme, van zijn ontstaan t/m de moderne tijd.

Armstrong beschrijft de geschiedenis van God bijna exclusief vanuit wat filosofen en theologen erover geschreven hebben, wat het volk dacht en wat voor invloed bepaalde Godsvisies op de wereld hadden, komt veel minder aan bod. Zo blijft het een nogal celebrale opsomming van visies, van bizar tot redelijk en van logisch tot absurd.

Al snel is duidelijk dat er aan het Godsidee vele kanttekeningen kleven, en a...more

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Jun 18, 2011 Vivian rated it 4 of 5 stars

I highly recommend this book! While it took me a good bit of time to slog through (+/- six weeks, with the occasional light novel thrown in for brain relief!), I learned so much about the three major monotheistic religions: their origins, their changes over time, and their answers to the continuing question of who or what is "God". I could probably have spent six months studying everything Armstrong discusses in this work, since I was tempted many times to go off and find more detailed explanati...more I highly recommend this book! While it took me a good bit of time to slog through (+/- six weeks, with the occasional light novel thrown in for brain relief!), I learned so much about the three major monotheistic religions: their origins, their changes over time, and their answers to the continuing question of who or what is "God". I could probably have spent six months studying everything Armstrong discusses in this work, since I was tempted many times to go off and find more detailed explanations of some of the concepts she covers, but decided to stick with it, and accept that this was an overview of a VERY wide and deep subject, and reading it tends to raise more questions than it answers.

For your information, I was raised Roman Catholic, received all the appropriate sacraments in the proper order (including a full wedding mass), but have more or less become a lapsed Catholic since my mid-twenties. I've always had a hard time with organized religion, and have had the vague conviction that we all pretty much believe in the same God anyway, so why all the fuss and bother with the technicalities? Well, this book does a wonderful job at explaining many of these "technicalities," and the reasons for their existence, and if it doesn't make me any more inclined to go to Sunday mass, it does help me to understand why so many other people do.

And I liked her reasoning as to why, even if as individuals we don't feel a personal need for God, the concept of "God" is important to society: it gives all of us the moral and emotional foundation for our ethical behavior. Without religion to tell us right from wrong, good from evil...who would decide? I've always argued that I don't need the Church to tell me how to behave, that I can figure out for myself, thank you very much, that I should treat my neighbor as I would like to be treated myself. But without a God, and his accompanying Biblical stories, where would that basis for societal behavior have come from? The development of civilization, and the development of society required the foundation story of God to show us the way, to what is acceptable, and what is not. This thought alone fascinates me to no end...

I'm giving the book only four stars instead of five because there were times when the narrative dragged, with my eyes glazing over from all the prophets and philosophers and religious elders that have their word to say in the last 1000 or so years. But the subject matter itself, and the questions it poses, are well worth the careful attention this book demands from the reader. (less)

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Jun 12, 2011 Judy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Question: Can you distill a history of the way in which humans have understood and experienced God over the past 4,000 years into one volume? Answer: Apparently, yes. This is a fascinating look at the religious developments and traditions of Jews, Christians, and Muslims from Abraham to the modern age. Armstrong includes the philosophes and mysticism that has been present in all three monotheistic religions over the centuries and clearly places the evolution in religious thought into its histori...more

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May 01, 2011 Sam Osborne rated it 3 of 5 stars

A must read for any Muslim, Christian or Jew. A must share for anyone with a Muslim, Christian or Jewish friend. A sure conversation starter for anyone with an interest in the Ibrhimic faiths and an interesting (if not overly documented) argument against fundamentalism. There is an incredible amount of documentation of who said what, when they said it, who they said it to and sometimes, why Armstrong thinks they may have said it. She attempts to show that the emphases of the Ibrhimic 'god' have...more

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Jan 19, 2011 Shakeel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: religion, audio-books

Hmm...

This is the first time I've read anything by Karen Armstrong. I would say two things about the book. One positive and the other negative.

I think the title should have been "The evolution and history of God". Simply because throughout the narrative, you can see that initially God starts off as a very anthropomorphic being who is actively involved in human affairs, to the being who is transcendent and can't be described.

On the positive side, as a bit of theological history, the amount of da...more Hmm...

This is the first time I've read anything by Karen Armstrong. I would say two things about the book. One positive and the other negative.

I think the title should have been "The evolution and history of God". Simply because throughout the narrative, you can see that initially God starts off as a very anthropomorphic being who is actively involved in human affairs, to the being who is transcendent and can't be described.

On the positive side, as a bit of theological history, the amount of data that she covers is more than adequate to capture the theological and mystical history of the three monotheism's. The parts on Islam were things I was already familiar with from my own background. The parts about Judaism and Christianity were useful to learn as well. I was familiar with the details in the two older Abrahamic religions, though not as thorough as Islam. What I found odd though, was when she said that God isn't as personal a being in Islam as he is in Judaism or Christianity. I beg to differ on this. In Islam, we are told that Allah is closer to us than our jugular vein and Allah is intimately involved with us. Certainly in Sunni theology, Allah creates our very actions through our volition.

On the negative side (and maybe it's because the focus is different) is that there is a fair amount of presumption and repetition about "ultimate reality" and "ultimate truth". These things I find that she is taking for granted. The book is a history of God and does nothing to work at intellectually justifying the positions she is talking about. I will say that she does acknowledge that religion is mankind's "attempt" at trying to understand the mystery of existence, which is something I agree with. I also take the position that no religion can make a claim on this and just the very insistence that it is ultimate truth or certain knowledge only goes to show it's man made nature and weakness.

In Islam, the ultimate authority is Muhammad, followed by his companions and the interpretation they give of the religion would be the ultimate authority as far as understanding the scriptures is concerned and if they have said that this is certain knowledge, then one should concede that and move on, rather than trying to overlay ones interpretation on it. I mean this when it comes to theology and not matters of law or jurisprudence.

One thing that I thought was weird, was her insistence that atheism is a relatively modern phenomenon. This might be wishful thinking on her part and brings me to another book I read recently called "Doubt - A History" by Jennifer Michael Hecht. The book is a mirror image of this one and looks in the opposite direction towards heresy, scepticism and doubt. Not just in the three monotheism's but in the Eastern traditions as well. The book certainly shows that the history of doubt has a longer history than the monotheism's and is as old or older than the Hindu tradition.

I give the book four stars out of five for it's historical content on the evolution of the "idea" of God. The book might give pause to those believers at least, who are adamant that the path they are following is the only one that will let them obtain salvation.(less)

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Dec 08, 2010 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Part Fascinating, Part Dense: I found this book to be fascinating in parts and really dense in others. I am rating it somewhat low because, while I really enjoyed the ideas, I found the writing style to be very heavy in places and I am holding unto my stars for a more enjoyable read on the topic. The first three chapters were by far my favorite. They deal with the history behind the Old and New Testaments. The middle chapters deal with the evolution of Christian/Muslim/Jewish theology and were l...more

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Sep 03, 2010 Faith Justice rated it 5 of 5 stars

From the back:

Why does God exist? How have the three dominant monotheistic religions - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - shaped and altered the conception of God? How have these religions influenced each other? In this stunningly intelligent book, Karen Armstrong, one of Britain's foremost commentators on religious affairs, traced the history of how men and women have perceived and experienced God from the time of Abraham to the present.

My review:

Karen Armstrong spent years researching this boo...more

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Aug 29, 2009 Adrian Stumpp rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, history

Armstrong, a former Catholic nun, traces the histories of Christ, Yahweh, and Allah from their common roots to the present, taking brief excursions along the way to explore some of the more interesting and eccentirc sects that have sprung up and usually been exterminated with extreme prejudice along the way. She points out, for example, that all three trace their claims of Truth back to a single man, Abraham, who believed in a god named El, who is none of the three major monotheistic deities of...more

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Jun 14, 2009 Ryan rated it 5 of 5 stars

One of the most informative, relevant, and fascinating books I've ever read. It was by no means an easy read. But for the amount of education you get out of it, the read is well worth it.

The author traces the history of monotheism (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) and shows not only their interconnectedness, but also their literal unity. The detail in the exploration of the history of monotheism was indeed comprehensive - but also appropriate as it shows how religion has developed from era to e...more

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