A History Of God The 4000 Year Quest Of Judaism

Author : Karen Armstrong
Publisher : Gramercy
ISBN 13 : 9780517223123
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.20/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book A History of God written by Karen Armstrong and published by Gramercy. This book was released on 2004 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of the deity of the world's three dominant monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In a dynamic interplay between religion and society's ever-changing beliefs, values, and traditions, human beings' ideas about God have been transformed. Ideas about God have been molded to apply to the spiritual needs of the people who worship him in a particular place and time. The author explores and analyzes the development and progression of the various perceptions of God from the days of Abraham to present times--Adapted from book jacket.

Author : Karen Armstrong
Publisher : Ballantine Books
ISBN 13 : 0307798585
Total Pages : 487 pages
Book Rating : 4.89/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book A History of God written by Karen Armstrong and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2011-08-10 with total page 487 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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, traces the history of how men and women have perceived and experienced God, from the time of Abraham to the present. The epic story begins with the Jews' gradual transformation of pagan idol worship in Babylon into true monotheism—a concept previously unknown in the world. Christianity and Islam both rose on the foundation of this revolutionary idea, but these religions refashioned 'the One God' to suit the social and political needs of their followers. From classical philosophy and medieval mysticism to the Reformation, Karen Armstrong performs the near miracle of distilling the intellectual history of monotheism into one superbly readable volume, destined to take its place as a classic. Praise for History of God “An admirable and impressive work of synthesis that will give insight and satisfaction to thousands of lay readers.”—The Washington Post Book World “A brilliantly lucid, spendidly readable book. [Karen] Armstrong has a dazzling ability: she can take a long and complex subject and reduce it to the fundamentals, without oversimplifying.”—The Sunday Times (London) “Absorbing . . . A lode of learning.”—Time “The most fascinating and learned study of the biggest wild goose chase in history—the quest for God. Karen Armstrong is a genius.”—A.N. Wilson, author of Jesus: A Life

Author : A. N. Wilson
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 9780393326338
Total Pages : 292 pages
Book Rating : 4.30/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Jesus written by A. N. Wilson and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2004 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Extraordinarily entertaining....Learned, witty....Wilson [is] a gifted novelist and diligent biographer."--Newsday

Author : Karen Armstrong
Publisher : Ballantine Books
ISBN 13 : 0307798593
Total Pages : 509 pages
Book Rating : 4.96/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Jerusalem written by Karen Armstrong and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2011-08-10 with total page 509 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Venerated for millennia by three faiths, torn by irreconcilable conflict, conquered, rebuilt, and mourned for again and again, Jerusalem is a sacred city whose very sacredness has engendered terrible tragedy. In this fascinating volume, Karen Armstrong, author of the highly praised A History of God, traces the history of how Jews, Christians, and Muslims have all laid claim to Jerusalem as their holy place, and how three radically different concepts of holiness have shaped and scarred the city for thousands of years. Armstrong unfolds a complex story of spiritual upheaval and political transformation--from King David's capital to an administrative outpost of the Roman Empire, from the cosmopolitan city sanctified by Christ to the spiritual center conquered and glorified by Muslims, from the gleaming prize of European Crusaders to the bullet-ridden symbol of the present-day Arab-Israeli conflict. Written with grace and clarity, the product of years of meticulous research, Jerusalem combines the pageant of history with the profundity of searching spiritual analysis. Like Karen Armstrong's A History of God, Jerusalem is a book for the ages. BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Karen Armstrong's Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life.

Author : Karen Armstrong
Publisher : Knopf Canada
ISBN 13 : 0307372952
Total Pages : 432 pages
Book Rating : 4.56/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Case for God written by Karen Armstrong and published by Knopf Canada. This book was released on 2009-09-22 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the bestselling author of A History of God and The Great Transformation comes a balanced, nuanced understanding of the role religion plays in human life and the trajectory of faith in modern times. Why has God become incredible? Why is it that atheists and theists alike now think and speak about God in a way that veers so profoundly from the thinking of our ancestors? Moving from the Paleolithic Age to the present, Karen Armstrong details the lengths to which humankind has gone to experience a sacred reality that it called God, Brahman, Nirvana, Allah, or Dao. She examines the diminished impulse toward religion in our own time when a significant number of people either want nothing to do with God or question the efficacy of faith. With her trademark depth of knowledge and profound insight, Armstrong elucidates how the changing world has necessarily altered the importance of religion at both societal and individual levels. And she makes a powerful, convincing argument for structuring a faith that speaks to the needs of our dangerously polarized age.

Author : Karen Armstrong
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780749306922
Total Pages : 511 pages
Book Rating : 4.20/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book A History of God written by Karen Armstrong and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 511 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Reza Aslan
Publisher : Random House
ISBN 13 : 0553394738
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.33/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book God written by Reza Aslan and published by Random House. This book was released on 2017-11-07 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The bestselling author of Zealot and host of Believer explores humanity’s quest to make sense of the divine in this concise and fascinating history of our understanding of God. In Zealot, Reza Aslan replaced the staid, well-worn portrayal of Jesus of Nazareth with a startling new image of the man in all his contradictions. In his new book, Aslan takes on a subject even more immense: God, writ large. In layered prose and with thoughtful, accessible scholarship, Aslan narrates the history of religion as a remarkably cohesive attempt to understand the divine by giving it human traits and emotions. According to Aslan, this innate desire to humanize God is hardwired in our brains, making it a central feature of nearly every religious tradition. As Aslan writes, “Whether we are aware of it or not, and regardless of whether we’re believers or not, what the vast majority of us think about when we think about God is a divine version of ourselves.” But this projection is not without consequences. We bestow upon God not just all that is good in human nature—our compassion, our thirst for justice—but all that is bad in it: our greed, our bigotry, our penchant for violence. All these qualities inform our religions, cultures, and governments. More than just a history of our understanding of God, this book is an attempt to get to the root of this humanizing impulse in order to develop a more universal spirituality. Whether you believe in one God, many gods, or no god at all, God: A Human History will challenge the way you think about the divine and its role in our everyday lives. Praise for God “Timely, riveting, enlightening and necessary.”—HuffPost “Tantalizing . . . Driven by [Reza] Aslan’s grace and curiosity, God . . . helps us pan out from our troubled times, while asking us to consider a more expansive view of the divine in contemporary life.”—The Seattle Times “A fascinating exploration of the interaction of our humanity and God.”—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “[Aslan’s] slim, yet ambitious book [is] the story of how humans have created God with a capital G, and it’s thoroughly mind-blowing.”—Los Angeles Review of Books “Aslan is a born storyteller, and there is much to enjoy in this intelligent survey.”—San Francisco Chronicle

Author : Karen Armstrong
Publisher : Ballantine Books
ISBN 13 : 0307798615
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.19/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book In the Beginning written by Karen Armstrong and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2011-08-10 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Karen Armstrong is a genius.”—A. N. Wilson As the foundation stone of the Jewish and Christian scriptures, The Book of Genesis unfolds some of the most arresting stories of world literature—the Creation; Adam and Eve; Cain and Abel; the sacrifice of Isaac. Yet the meaning of Genesis remains enigmatic. In this fascinating volume, Karen Armstrong, author of the highly acclaimed bestseller A History of God, brilliantly illuminates the mysteries and profundities of this mystifying work. BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Karen Armstrong's Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life. “A lyrical chronicle of one woman's wrestling with Genesis that can serve as a guide to others . . . As notable for its scholarship as it is for its honesty and vulnerability.”—Publishers Weekly “Armstrong can simplify complex ideas, but she is never simplistic.”—The New York Times Book Review

Author : Karen Armstrong
Publisher : HarperCollins UK
ISBN 13 : 0006383483
Total Pages : 460 pages
Book Rating : 4.82/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book The Battle for God written by Karen Armstrong and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2001 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most potent forces bedevilling the modern world is religious fundamentalism. Armstrong explains how and why fundamentalists' understanding of religion and society differs so starkly from that of their contemporaries.

Author : John Pickard
Publisher : AuthorHouse
ISBN 13 : 1481783637
Total Pages : 493 pages
Book Rating : 4.37/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Behind the Myths written by John Pickard and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2013-02-26 with total page 493 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There has never been a more important time for a study of the social, economic, and political origins of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the three important world religions that share a common root. This book adopts a Marxist, that is a materialist, view of human development, so it takes as its starting point the idea that gods, angels, miracles, and other supernatural phenomena do not exist in the real world and therefore cannot be taken as explanations for the origin and rise of these faiths. It looks instead at the material conditions at appropriate periods in antiquity and the social and economic forces that were at work, to outline the real foundations of these three doctrines. In doing so, it challenges the historicity of key figures like Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed. This is a unique book that draws on the research, knowledge, and expertise of hundreds of historians, archaeologists, and scholars to create a new synthesis that is both coherent and completely based on a materialist world outlook. It is a book written by an unbeliever for other unbelievers as a contribution to a discussion among atheists and secularists as to the real origins of the so-called Abramic faiths. It will be a revelatory read, even to those already firmly of an atheist or secularist persuasion, underpinning their nonreligious views, and it will provide a valuable resource for all those who might be coming to question the hold that organized religion has had on human society.