Karen Armstrong A History Of God Summary

For thousands of years, devotees of the world’s dominant religions- Judaism, Christianity and Islam- have wrestled with the conception of God. Karen Armstrong, a former Catholic nun, is acclaimed for her work titled A History of God: The 4,000 Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, an academic study that guides readers along humanity’s quest to trace the evolution of God. Her theories examine the images of a deity as an idea versus a symbol in religious ethos while demonstrating the interrelation of Christian, Islamic and Jewish understandings of the divine. Although the title is ambitious and demands attention, I will be assessing Armstrong’s ability to articulate each historical academic, the organization of her writing including

her writing style as well as her ability to justify the information she presents.
A History of God is about the history of how individuals sensed God as the idea evolved from the time of Abraham to present-day dogmas. Her main focus is how dominant monotheistic religions modernized ‘the one God’ to suit the social and political needs of each religious adherent. Using a traditional approach that discusses the Reformation, the Enlightenment and the modern times of religious doubt, Armstrong acutely focuses on the fundamentals of religious affairs and sheds light on how each religion transformed its own emphasis of the religious, depending on need, fear, vision and emotion (3). In addition to giving life to complex subjects, Armstrong knowledgeably discusses various reformers and philosophers associated with Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Throughout her study, Armstrong wisely condenses challenging historical concepts to thoroughly enliven the reader’s attention- for this I praise her.
Armstrong pens a well-written introduction of the three major monotheistic religions. Although the author was a Roman Catholic nun for several years, she wisely approaches God as a writer and historian, not as a theologian. Armstrong only ponders the crucial and ominous questions her volume raises. She asserts that her study “will not be a history of the ineffable reality of God itself, which is beyond time and change” (Armstrong, 5). Instead of trying to prove this impossible reality, Armstrong wisely sidesteps the ultimate question to which no one has the authority or answer: Is there a God? In fact, she continues to limit her writing to focus on how the image of God was altered over 4,000 years.
In a similar way, the author thoroughly articulates theological ideas while revealing how she came to the conclusions she reached. Armstrong asks, “as an epileptic, I had flashes of vision that I knew to be a mere neurological defect: had the visions and raptures of the saints also been a mere mental quirk?” (4). I appreciate the author’s backstory on her thought processes over the years prior to writing this book. This allows the reader to put effort into understanding her point of view. Because Armstrong’s account draws on a perspective not prevalent in religious studies, I, the reader, found reading this text extremely interesting. The author’s use of non-theistic language to define mystical experiences and critical reasoning without voluminous arguments, makes her work an impressive, readable volume.
A History of God has an accessible layout because Armstrong smartly takes the reader through her findings step-by-step. The author begins with her background, describing her time as a nun in the 1960s, and goes on to explain how and why her faith grew progressively weaker (xvii). Although Armstrong’s faith weakened, she was still fascinated with religion, and so decided to pursue theological studies. From here, she explains the humanistic and religious notions of the quest for God. Armstrong traces the development of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam from their beginnings to the present day in an organized manner. The author’s volume does is not separated into three parts for Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Armstrong mentions, “Indeed, we shall find a striking similarity in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim ideas of the divine” (9). Focusing on their similarities, Armstrong makes her text more purposeful when she examines the parallels of the three religions and then the emergence of their differences.
Interesting also is Armstrong’s ability to share the phenomena of mysticism, fundamentalism and classical philosophy beyond the Christian perspective, which I did not expect, considering her time as a Catholic nun. The author develops a thorough, knowledgeable understanding of these particular topics into a world-view while simultaneously discussing all “the religious systems of antiquity” (Armstrong 9).
Armstrong reveals that the Reformation was not based on Protestant reforms, but rather a more universal concept. This is an example of her ability to discuss many different concepts without oversimplifying them. Armstrong deserves merit for thoroughly designing the text’s quality and robustness in a way that does not create difficulty for the reader.
Alongside Armstrong’s complex but penetrating study, her writing is difficult to refute. In spite of the challenging topics the author tackles, Armstrong offers her readers a highly readable and informative volume in one all-encompassing publication. But, there were some areas of content, like the notion of a personal God in the modern-day (389), where I wish Armstrong had been clearer about whether a position was her opinion or a well-supported historical outlook. Though this may have added to the complexity of the text, it would have enhanced my understanding of Armstrong’s central view concerning “the worship of one God” (310). As she assesses religious doctrines from within, whether Judaism, Christianity or Islam, she expresses a deep respect for each philosophy. Interestingly, the author seems to focus on defending Islamic philosophies with more passion than Christian or Jewish teachings. Armstrong insists, “the intolerance that many people condemn in Islam today does not always spring from a rival vision of God but from quite another source” (152). The author shows more concern towards Islamic views. As her empathy adds to her praise, it seems as if her text eludes the biases often held by religious scholars and historians based on their own personal experiences. When Armstrong treats the facts and beliefs of other religions with equal focus as her own religious experience, she successfully convinces the reader to be interested in the theories she examines.
Although she provides a great deal of religious history, [Armstrong] fails to do so in a succinct writing style. The author excludes the readers who may not have any (prior) religious knowledge. By failing to explain in detail the historical sources she uses she makes it difficult for the reader to understand her theories. To a certain degree, Armstrong assumes the readers have prior knowledge upon reading her text. She mentions, “In the Trinity, The Father transmits all that he is to the Son, giving up everything- even the possibility of expressing himself in another world” (Armstrong…). People who do not read the Bible would find it difficult to understand this statement as they would not know what the Holy Trinity is. Armstrong’s production is abridgment; too much content is covered in a short duration as necessary explanations are often not provided. Without taking into consideration people of other faith traditions or agnostics or atheists, Armstrong assumes the reader already has an understanding of such complex ideas. Instead, the author should have
taken a slower pace while giving insight into the transformation of pagan idol worship in monotheism.

This would have enhanced the reader’s understanding of her theories; however, the author seems to have overlooked this aspect. To some extent, the author’s poor presentation causes the quality of her work to suffer.

Armstrong drives the quality of her work even further. From ancient philosophies and mysticism to the Enlightenment, and the Reformation, Karen Armstrong poorly arranges the structure of her text. Although the author provides the readers with a chronological order of religious happenings, she exceeds the limit. For an introductory text, the author makes excessive references to various philosophers, reformers and their theories.

Armstrong mentions, “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 to exile with the Jews after the destruction of the Temple” (1). As an author, her writing preference seems to be to use numerous examples to validate her theories. Though Armstrong has a lot of knowledge of religious history, she fails to maintain a consistent writing style within her

text.
Though the author refers to interesting religious ideologies, her writing style dissatisfied me.

Being a scholar in religious studies we (the readers) hope that Armstrong would introduce new ideologies gradually. Instead, the author makes parts of her text difficult to read by frequently using complex terms and unfamiliar names of scholars. “King Uzziah of Judah had died that year and was succeeded by his son Azha. After the death of King Jeroboam II, five kings had sat on the throne between 746 and 736, while King Tigleth Pilesar III, king of Assyria….” (Armstrong, 40). Her attempt to captivate the reader weakens as the reader may not know anything about the people whom she is referring to. Furthermore, the reader becomes unfocused, struggles to grasp an understanding of key ideas and additional theories. As an author, her writing style relies on the use of numerous examples to validate her theories. But to create a more comprehensible work, Armstrong should have made her book more coherent and relatable to the reader. The use of several examples hurts the reader, in a way that makes religious ideas confusing and, at the same time, boring the reader with these unfamiliar religious

concepts.

For those looking for a thorough understanding of the three Western creeds, I highly recommend reading Karen Armstrong’s A History of God. Armstrong’s ability to simplify complex notions, the organization of her writing including her writing style and her ability to explicate ideas within Judaism, Christianity and Islam enhance the reader’s ability to distill the history of monotheism into one readable study, and her work is destined to take its place as a scholarly publication. Although the author simplifies complex ideas, she is certainly not simplistic. The author captivates the reader by navigating between what the reader knows and then introducing the unfamiliar. Armstrong invites the readers on a thoughtful journey and for that I praise her. A History of God: The 4,000 Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam is highly readable and ought to be read by anyone interested in an objective approach to the bridges that were once known as the key to discovering the conception of God.