false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170435181m/53982.jpg 53982 18 From Karen Armstrong, the bestselling author of <i>A History of God</i> and <i>The Spiral Staircase</i>, comes this extraordinary investigation of a critical moment in the evolution of religious thought.<br><br>In the ninth century BCE, events in four regions of the civilized world led to the rise of religious traditions that have endured to the present day--the development of Confucianism and Daoism in China, Hinduism and Buddhism in India, monotheism in Israel, and philosophical rationalism in Greece. Armstrong, one of our most prominent religious scholars, examines how these traditions began in response to the violence of their time. Studying figures as diverse as the Buddha and Socrates, Confucius and Jeremiah, Armstrong reveals how these still enduring philosophies can help address our contemporary problems. 2870476 2006 The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions total:320|5:95|4:118|3:90|2:13|1:4| 320 1247 724 84 3 2 false false Sun May 04 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jan 25 16:11:07 -0800 2008 Sat May 10 20:32:12 -0700 2008 The Great Transformation argues that the core religious/philosophical traditions of several major civilizations -- China, India, Greece, and Israel -- emerged at about the same time, for the same reasons, and were preoccupied with the same ideas. The time is what philosopher Karl Jaspers called the...more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Feb 05 09:47:43 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 09:47:43 -0800 2009 If you've already written God's biography (A History of God), surely it's a cakewalk to tackle the era before His ascendancy in theological affairs. But making sense of four disparate cultures and religious traditions in the space of 400 pages proves to be a risky proposition for Armstrong. Critics ...

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Armstrong covers the historical foundations of the world's most important religions, which, co-incidentally enough, occurred within the same 500-year-span, worldwide. Historians cal...more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Apr 23 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 23 19:33:06 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 23 19:47:54 -0700 2008 by Karen Armstrong

If you want to read some history on the beginnings and best elements of world religions, here is 400 pages of it. Armstrong thoroughly explains how the Axial Age (900 to 200 BCE) was a quantum leap in spiritual development through sages bri...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jun 22 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Mon Mar 24 23:15:23 -0700 2008 Mon Mar 24 23:15:54 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Dec 15 15:18:53 -0800 2007 Sat Dec 15 18:27:41 -0800 2007 In 1948, the German philosopher Karl Jaspers coined the term "Axial Age" to denote an astonishing era, from roughly 900 B.C. to 200 B.C., in which the foundations of the world's great religions were laid. This was the time of S...more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Nov 11 00:15:43 -0800 2007 Sun Nov 11 00:25:08 -0800 2007 A History of God and The Battle for God. Although the book is certainly written for a nonspecialist audience, it was well-researched without becoming bogged down in detail or footnotes. Arms...more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Mar 31 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 06 08:52:05 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 06 08:56:46 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 07 08:11:46 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 07 08:19:51 -0700 2009
Her text definitely had me rethinking/questioning the nature of God and how I choose to worship him. This was ...more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Oct 20 15:56:00 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 20 16:01:00 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Mon Dec 08 01:01:23 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 08 01:02:46 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu May 28 10:59:46 -0700 2009 Thu May 28 11:01:54 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Jan 27 14:12:32 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 27 15:42:01 -0800 2008
Zoals wel meer met boeken die ik heel goed vind: ik heb de indruk dat ik nu voor het eerst echt begin te begrijpen waar de ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Aug 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 30 19:52:34 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 21 20:30:13 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue May 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 26 11:59:14 -0700 2009 Tue May 12 10:45:22 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 03 21:21:36 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 03 21:23:36 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 22 08:52:48 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 22 08:55:42 -0800 2009 another great book by perhaps the finest, certainly the most accessible and readable, religious historian ever - ]]> 5 0 false false Fri Mar 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 24 14:41:59 -0700 2007 Fri Mar 20 13:44:44 -0700 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=53982