Ginnie's review
A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam
by Karen Armstrong
Ginnie's review
A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam by Karen Armstrong
Ginnie's review
rating:
bookshelves:
religion
I was surprised by the number of times A.J. Jacobs cited this book and quoted from it in his "The Year of Living Biblically." Of course, I shouldn't have been surprised because i use it myself as a reference tool since it has a fine index and excellent bibliography.
One friend described this work as "chewy". Another noted that her succinct and concise summaries of complex beliefs reflected her journalistic background. Both of these are correct. Karen Armstrong gives us the monumental history of the Abrahamic faiths as they create the idea of one God. She notes that the beliefs began to arise in the turbulent free market of trade following 800BC (which she calls the Axial Age) and developed around the Oikumene (the civilized world of the Crescent and the Mediterranean Sea). Originally anthropomorphic and "crude", her thesis is that each faith developed along similar lines and with similar complexity began to think of God more mystically and universally,...more
One friend described this work as "chewy". Another noted that her succinct and concise summaries of complex beliefs reflected her journalistic background. Both of these are correct. Karen Armstrong gives us the monumental history of the Abrahamic faiths as they create the idea of one God. She notes that the beliefs began to arise in the turbulent free market of trade following 800BC (which she calls the Axial Age) and developed around the Oikumene (the civilized world of the Crescent and the Mediterranean Sea). Originally anthropomorphic and "crude", her thesis is that each faith developed along similar lines and with similar complexity began to think of God more mystically and universally,...more
