Overview

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 great lengths to which humankind has gone in order to experience a sacred reality that has been referred to by many names, such as God, Brahman, Nirvana, Allah or Dao. Focusing especially on Christianity but including Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Chinese spiritualities, Armstrong 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 the same depth of knowledge and profound insight that have marked all her acclaimed books, Armstrong answers these questions and offers a balanced, nuanced understanding of the role religion plays in human life.

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9780307397447

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Reviews

NATIONAL BESTSELLER A Globe and Mail Best Book A New York Times Notable Book The Case for God does not try to explain or prove the existence of a deity. But it shines unexpected light on modern views of religion.... The book provides a wealth of challenging ideas and perspectives. -- Winnipeg Free Press The time...is ripe for a book like The Case for God, which wraps a rebuke to the more militant sort of atheism in an engaging survey of Western religious thought.... This is an eloquent case for the ancient roots of the liberal approach to faith. -- The New York Times In over a dozen books [Armstrong] has delivered something people badly want: a way to acknowledge that faith can be taken seriously as a response to deep human yearnings without needing to subcribe to the formality of organized belief. -- The Economist From the Hardcover edition.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER A Globe and Mail Best Book A New York Times Notable Book The Case for God does not try to explain or prove the existence of a deity. But it shines unexpected light on modern views of religion.... The book provides a wealth of challenging ideas and perspectives. -- Winnipeg Free Press The time...is ripe for a book like The Case for God, which wraps a rebuke to the more militant sort of atheism in an engaging survey of Western religious thought.... This is an eloquent case for the ancient roots of the liberal approach to faith. -- The New York Times In over a dozen books [Armstrong] has delivered something people badly want: a way to acknowledge that faith can be taken seriously as a response to deep human yearnings without needing to subcribe to the formality of organized belief. -- The Economist

Author Information

KAREN ARMSTRONG is the author of numerous books on religious affairs, including The Case for God, A History of God, The Battle for God, Holy War, Islam, Buddha, and The Great Transformation, as well as a memoir, The Spiral Staircase. Her work has been translated into forty-five languages. In 2008 she was awarded the TED Prize and began working with TED on the Charter for Compassion, created online by the general  public,  and crafted  by leading thinkers in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. The charter was launched globally in the fall of 2009. She is currently an ambassador for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. She lives in London.

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