Friday, January 6, 2012

A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

I apologize for the lapse of time between my last book review and this one. One reason for this was due to the Christmas holidays. I was running around quite a bit and didn't have much time to read. The second reason for this is the book itself, more in that in just a second.

First, my main motivation for reading this book was to be more informed. Many people have preconceived notions about religions other than Christianity, and this bugs the hell out of me. Most of what people know is second hand, and often incorrect knowledge, especially when it comes to Islam.

This book is written by Karen Armstrong, a former nun. She discusses the three major monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. She explains such topics as the rise of Yaweh, the controversy over the trinity, the prophet Muhammad, God as understood by philosophers and mystics, and the future of God.

The chapter that I enjoyed the most was the chapter on Islam, mostly because I learned a lot. For example, the Koran was revealed to Muhammed over a period of twenty-three years. Also, the Koran teaches that God had sent messengers to every people on the earth, such as Abraham, Noah, Moses, and Jesus, who were the prophets of the Jews and Christians (Jesus is only a prophet, not the son of God). Also, the Koran frequently addresses women explicitly, something that rarely happens in the Jewish or Christian scriptures. However, as in other religions, it was hijacked by the men, who interpreted the texts in a way that was negative for women.

Overall, this book was very informative. However, it can be extremely dense, which is partly why it took so long for me to complete it. However, if you are interested in learning about these three religions, I definitely think it is worth the time and effort to read this book.