A history of God
the 4000-year quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
by Karen Armstrong · first published 1993
75% recommend25% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Traces how the concept of God developed across Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism, including mystical traditions. It is an interesting read for believers and atheists alike.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
As soon as they became recognizably human, men and women - in their hunger to understand their own presence on earth and the mysteries within and around them - began to worship gods. Karen Armstrong's masterly and illuminating book explores the ways in which the idea and experience of God evolved among the monotheists - Jews, Christians and Muslims. Weaving a multicolored fabric of historical, philosophical, intellectual and social developments and insights, Armstrong shows how, at various times through the centuries, each of the monotheistic religions has held a subtly different concept of G
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Doctors want money, but that does't mean they're completely useless. I wouldn't want to perform surgery on myself. I recently read "A History of God" by Karen Armstrong, which covers the evolution of religion and various mystical traditions in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. It's a really interesting book and one of the points…
on “Mindfulness and meditation can worsen depression and anxiety” ↗History of God by Karen Armstrong
on “Ask HN: Books that gave you different perspective on religion” ↗Somewhat related, several months ago I read Karen Armstrong's "A History of God" based on a recommendation in a similar thread. While not the most influential book I've read (I'm not even sure what that would be), it provided a nice perspective on the history and evolution of Judaism/Christianity/Islam…
on “Ask HN: What book has been most influential in your life?” ↗This was one of the topics covered by "A History of God" by Karen Armstrong [1]. While she didn't propose people should find religion per se, she did present the argument that a god sized hole exists in our psyche, so if one is not religious it needs to be…
on “To Revive Portland, Officials Seek to Recriminalize Public Drug Use” ↗