Rating: 
Summary: Heavy Going
Review: Everybody and their brother has reviewed this book, so I'll be brief: buy it for the first 3 chapters.I'm serious. This is a good book, but unless you know tons about the history of religious philosophy/theology, those last 300 pages are going to be tough. If, on the other hand, you are really well-versed in all aspects of mono-theistic religious thinking (from 4th C. Eastern orthodox mysticism to 8th C. Sufism to 14th C. Islamic rationalism and the Kabbalah), then this book will be a refreshing overview -- sort of a whirl-wind tour of Man's Search for Meaning Since the Dawn of Time. In other words, it's a tough read. That is actually to the author's credit -- it implies she didn't over-simplify and she tried to include all major thinkers in all major mono-theistic religions. But that's a tall order. Another criticism that I have of this book is sort of a personal beef with the author. Not that I don't like Karen Armstrong, she's a fine writer, but as is evident from some of her other writings, Ms. Armstrong is on a quest for God. One she can call her own. And as her biography (Through the Narrow Gate) makes clear, she felt like she passed up a truly profound religious experience while she was a nun. So, she's continued to look for it. This search has led her to read far and wide: Jewish Kabbalah, Augustine, Aquinus, Sufi mysticism, you name it. (Which is probably how she learned all the great stuff she put in this book.) But ultimately, since she is looking for her own God, she has a bad habit of being very reductionist with everybody else's God. The conclusion you will hear over and over again, from the pre-face to the conclusion, is that God is not "out there" -- but He is the invention of each individual. In other words, he's in your head. Those exact words: "God is not 'out there'" must show up 50 times in the text. I hate to say this, but it makes me think that she is reflecting what she wants to hear from the great religious thinkers of history. It feels like she was putting her words into other people's mouths. And in doing this, she may not be being entirely faithful to what *they* said or meant. It's obvious that, to some extent, she is trying for a peace-and-love message that says "At the base all religions are the same" and that's kind of a heart-warming message. But if the basic tenent which all religions share is the notion that God is "not out there", but is actually in your head, then I think Ms. Armstrong will not have difficulty getting someone to declare a fatwa on her. (I'm exaggerating slightly, but the whole God is "out there" theme does come up a lot.) Okay, so, basically, this is a good (albeit uneven) book. Buy it for the first 3 chapters, skim the rest and realize that the autor is not without a distinct point of view.
Rating:
Summary: How we think about gods
Review: Reading Karen Armstrong's book may be compared to watching a rail yard on a commuter line. The trains look pretty much the same. The tracks, starting with a single line, branch out but remain parallel; they all seem to be going to the same place. The commuters vary little in appearance but are striking in that they spend all their time scribbling. As the trains move along they encounter sharp curves, at which point the commuters exchange their scribblings. After a moment of reflection, they begin scribbling again. It's a bizarre picture, but the absurdity of the scene in no way invalidates Armstrong's thesis. The three monotheistic religions follow parallel courses in attempting to define their god. Thinkers over the generations seek a relation for humanity with the god, but that position varies with the circumstances of history. Each definition of god becomes common, but at differing times and conditions. Armstrong's most significant statement appears near the end when she reminds us that gods seem to be a necessary part of the human condition. What else could explain the wealth of prose she recounts in her study of the human quest to define the god of the Jews, Christians and Muslims? With impressive research, she charts four millennia of the human quest to define the god of these faiths. Although varying with time and place, the theme remains constant: could the god be defined, and what was its relationship with humanity? That the task remains unfulfilled is a testimony to the human need to resolve it. Armstrong questions neither the validity of the quest, nor the solutions offered over that long span of time. She does, however, provide an excellent summation of who participated in the search and why their solutions usually reflected social conditions, not divine inspiration. Armstrong starts with the Jews' desire to define their deity. The Jews have traditionally been credited with bringing monotheism to the Western world. One deity, however, doesn't make for common thinking. Over the centuries, Jewish thinkers have proposed many roles for their god. The deity has been brought into the community by some thinkers, but thrust away too distant to perceive by others. This variation of position reflects differing attitudes about the god's powers and intentions. If the god is closely involved with human affairs, then it is to be credited or blamed for the human condition. When conditions become severely negative, under oppressive rulers, for example, or the imposition of exile and dispersal, people question the god's compassion or sense of justice. Armstrong finds thinkers adapting to the conditions by relocating the god to a place distant from human affairs. Where the deity had been close and familiar, Armstrong shows how it now becomes removed and unknowable. The Jews merely set a pattern of thinking about the god, which would be followed by Christians and Muslims alike. Armstrong introduces us to the often boisterous debate over the position of their god relative to humanity. Christ's uncertain origins coupled with the degrading method of his death, complicated the culture of Jewish thought Christians inherited. If the god was remote, why and how could it manifest as a man? If it did become human, how could there be three gods when tradition stipulated one? Armstrong relates that even the compromise of the Nicene Creed didn't resolve this thorny question. Islam resolved that issue by rejecting divinity in Christ. Armstrong's description of the growth of Islam is a fine summation. She recounts how the Muslims faced exactly the question plaguing the Jews: what was the god, and how did it relate to humanity? The answers were identical, as well. The only differences lay in the causes. In the Jews it was usually forced by external events such as invasion. In Islam, the issues forcing the question were internal - corrupt or oppressive leaders and social injustice. Islam's Qur'an, Armstrong stresses, is best read in the original Arabic. With its message of justice and compassion, social inequities led to movements demanding a return to its original tenets. Again, however, the question of the god's definition remains perplexing. Social injustice led to the god's unknowability and Armstrong portrays the thinkers struggling to absolve it from permitting injustice. If divine restitution is not likely to be forthcoming, it's because the god is too remote from human affairs. It took the Enlightenment of Western Europe to institute two new ideas of the god. Is a god merely the starting point for nature's wonders, or does it even exist? Armstrong here points out that until the Enlightenment, an "atheist" was one who didn't share your [or the community's] definition of the god. Since the structure of all comunities had a religious basis, "atheism" was simply another word for non-conformity. Armstrong stresses that the increasing knowledge of nature gained from Copernicus on led to new approaches to god, even questioning its existence. The first widely known of these new atheist scholars was Diderot. In assessing humanity's place in nature, many of the new scholars stressed the notion of compassion, finding it wanting in the traditional religions. Armstrong finds Enlightenment scholars looking for justice, ethics and pity replacing piety. Whether this new quest will find fulfillment in the future without "faith" is the subject of her concluding chapter. Those seeking a god are certain to find one here. The book abounds with them; nearly every page introduces some thinker defining a deity. Armstrong's perceptive analysis shows the background to each proposed definition. She does it with clear prose, not overly scholarly in tone, but not superficial or light-hearted. She is at pains to demonstrate the three major faiths are not basically at odds. Even her short jaunts of comparison with Buddhism and Hinduism fail to dislodge her focus. Not a proselytizing work, this book can be read by anyone interested in the history of Western religions.
Rating: 
Summary: A good introductory read on monotheism
Review: Karen Armstrong is, as usual, a very eloquent writer. In this book, she seeks to trace the origins and doctrine of the three monotheistic faiths, all of which claims its roots in Abraham. Unlike other authors who sometimes has a hint of biasness when writing about another religion, I detect none between the lines of Ms. Armstrong's writings. She explains Judaism, Christianity and Islam objectively without indulging in polemics. I would recommend this book for those seeking something that introduces them to the world of monotheistic faiths - understanding its doctrines, perception of world view, et. al. A must buy!
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: After all the raves and hype I expected something grand from this book and was sorely disappointed. Acclaimed as "highly readable", the book is, I contend, just the opposite. Paragraphs addressing concepts are suddenly interrupted by very specific lists of names of ancient people, and the like, so that rather than being an introduction, the book is a review medium for those who already know about what they are reading. Like most overview courses in college, "overview" is better for those who know the details and want now to draw them together. A true introduction would not overwhelm the reader with arcane material which slows down the process of thinking about the subject. I agree with the critic who said he could only cover about 5 pages at a time. Really slow going and jarring in its mixture of readable and arcane.
Rating:
Summary: History: a view from the outside
Review: This is a very enlightening book for all but a few religious specialists. The author covers the three major monotheistic religions adequately, although giving more space to Islam. She apparently wants to speak to those moderns who accept the tenets of humanism and scientism.
She severely criticizes the classical idea of God as a. an inappropriate way to discover "God", and b. entirely discredited by modern science. She stresses the "via negativa" as appropriate for modern believers (without indicating just what the word "believer" would mean in the exclusive use of this method) and the insights/discoveries by genuine mystics. She prefers, in response to the question "Does God Exist?", to say "God is Nothing." She does not mention at all the strongest argument for a kind of "via positiva" in Christian circles-- Aquinas' analogy of proportionality. Her conclusion seems to be that modern believers should abandon the classical arguments for "God" (both ontological and cosmological), and start groping for a really modern way to express the continuing human need for meaning. This for her is definitely a period of historic transition of symbolic language.
Some key questions were not really addressed: Is "God" really transcendent to the perceptible universe? Do human beings really survive death? Does your 'ethical' behavior make any real difference beyond death? Does "God" really want human beings to become aware of God's existence? Is it "OK" to live a purely secular existence without any thought given to "God"? This book should be a wake up call to current believers. Sloppy, second-hand beliefs will not work in modern life anymore. These inaccurate beliefs, as documented in this book, have caused tremendous suffering and atrocities in history. The Jones', Koresh's, and bin Laden's of the world were all religious people. The way these kinds of people have used the idea of "God" to justify their actions should strengthen the author's main points. This reviewer basically agrees with the author's points, although I wish that, in addition to criticizing inaccurate ideas of "God", the author had provided more accurate ideas to replace them, lest the vacuum created might be filled by even worse ideas [Matt. 12:43-45].
Rating:
Summary: Quite an accomplishment..
Review: Karen Armstrong set out to write, in understandable terms,a book about the origins and interfaces of the three major monotheistic religions, and she succeeded admirably despite the vastness of the project and the thousands of resources available. Not only does Armstrong give a decent account of the migration of ancient pre-judaic religions and stories into Hebrew monotheism, the mother and cousin religion of Christianity and Islam respectively, but she details the rise of each individually and accurately describes the intramural conflicts that afflicted each along the way to modernity. Critics who complained that this book didn't achieve a "magnum opus" magisterial treatment of each separate religion were mistaken in their expectations, because such a book would run to several thousand pages and defeat its whole purpose: to give the average reader some idea as to the rise of monotheism (and it's variants) in plain readable language. Other critics, with an obvious theological axe to grind, simply wrote the book off as so much atheistic fiction. Don't bet on it; some of the most spiritual humans in history were, and are, some of its greatest doubters, and it's obvious that Karen Armstrong has done her share of that in the most sincere and honest manner imaginable. Those wanting an excellent primer on monotheistic religions, and the infusion of ancient near eastern religions into them, should read this book. They won't regret it..
Rating:
Summary: Should Be Required Reading For Aspiring Holyrollers!
Review: This is an extremely interesting history that dates back to the beginnings of man's invention of GOD, made even more relevant now, following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Warning!: this book must be read with an open mind. Tora Bora!
Rating:
Summary: Eternal Themes
Review: This book takes on an impossible task--to summarize the history of the three monotheistic religions over a 4,000 year time span, and I agree with other reviewers who variously found it tough going at times, somewhat superficial in that the author tried to cover hundreds of theologians and scholars in an average of a couple of pages each, and perhaps very biased in favor of Islam (a theme that runs through many of Armstrong's books). Having said all that, however, my advice is to try to avoid getting bogged down in the details unless this is your textbook for a course, and let certain broad themes emerge. First, all cultures have struggled to give a name, form and substance to what all seem to intuitively believe--that there is a "something else." Second, concepts of God and religion evolve over time in response to changes in society and the world, and the notion that a Sacred Text contains immutable truths that have been part of a religion for 2,000 years is fanciful. Third, the debate between those who seek to understand God on a rational level vs. those who seek a more intuitive, mystical understanding has been going on since the beginning and will go on forever. Finally, God, in the sense that it is discussed in this book, will never be dead--as we have all learned so painfully in recent months.
Rating:
Summary: Most Intellectually Challenging of the Armstrong Books
Review: I have put off reading A History of God (The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam) before reading three of the author's other brilliant books (The Battle for God, Islam, A Short History and Buddha) as this particular volume looked to be the most challenging and so it was. The chapters on the God of the mystics and the God of the philisophers took the most time and some of it still left me perplexed, although still fascinated. The author does a superb job of sticking closely to her theme of discussing the idea of God as it developed (a particularly illuminating section of the book) and changed over time. It was a intellectually challenging book but well worth the time and effort that one will put into it. Another fine job from this author, although I am sure that everyone will have their quibbles (such as short shrift on medieval Western Christianity and modern era Islam) and there are some nice surprises (such as the inclusion of Orthodox Christianity, a subject usually ignored). A recommended book.
Rating:
Summary: a learned and absorbing overview of god through the ages
Review: This is the most eclectic book on religion I've come across in some time. As someone who's studied quite a bit of Jewish history, I'm used to books that focus on one religion. That's what I liked so much about this book -- Armstrong traces the three monotheistic religions from the beginning all the way to the 20th century. The first three chapters cover Judaism, Christianity and Islam while the following chapers look at all three through differernt epochs like the philosphes, the medievalists, the Reformation, etc... I felt that she was very objective and not partial to one religion or another -- after all, that's not the point. I know some have criticized her coverage of one specific area, but I found no grounds for these criticisms -- she's very fair and scholarly. Cleary Armstrong knows her stuff. The book is lively, scholarly and very well-written. In my opinion, it's always useful to look at your own religion from an outside vantage point -- this book lets you do just that.
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