by mentallyfree31 16 Replies latest jw friends
Hey everybody. I just started Karen Armstrong's book The Bible last week. I have found it quite interesting. I'm only about 100 pages in, but so far have learned quite a few things about the history of the book.
Have you read this book? What did you think?
-Steve-
I read this book. Karen gives a great development of the Bible from human sources.
i havent but i will.
I like how she discusses how "Christianity" and the Jesus movement started. And how the temple destruction in 70 ce was a game changer for the future generations. Very interesting.
-SB-
Great book ! Karen does all the research for you and shows you what the bible really is and its history, chequered to say the least !
I have found her writings to be very educational, she gave me a new viewpoint on Islam after reading her "Short History of Islam "
Her two books on God "A history of God" and "The battle for God" are very good, I would love for all JW's to read them with an open mind ! (Impossible I know)
In one or two of her books she shows how fundamentalism has arisen, and how it is damaging all faiths and human relations in general.
A good writer and teacher, and someone with a great deal of compassion, please join and support her "Charter for Compassion", a movement she started in 2008 which appeals to those of all religions and none to live by the Golden Rule.
Does Karen Armstrong believe in God? I've read she was a nun for many years and one day the lights came on and she gave it all up -- or does she still believe in God and not the Bible? Interesting.
NV1
This Karen Armstrong that said this:
In an interview with Bill Moyers, Armstrong compared Christianity to Islam, stating that "Islam is a religion of success. Unlike Christianity, which has as its main image, in the west at least, a man dying in a devastating, disgraceful, helpless death...Mohammed was not an apparent failure. He was a dazzling success, politically as well as spiritually, and Islam went from strength to strength to strength." [ 8 ] Armstrong has also argued that “Until the 20th century, Islam was a far more tolerant and peaceful faith than Christianity. The Qur’an strictly forbids any coercion in religion and regards all rightly guided religion as coming from God; and despite the western belief to the contrary, Muslims did not impose their faith by the sword.” [ 9 ]
I ordered this book when somebody mentioned it before. I have not read it yet but my husband is reading it now. He is enjoying it.
Well, I hope that this book is more well researched than her view that musilms don't impose their faith by force, maybe she has never heard of the Rashidun Caliphate.
I seem to remember that Karen A was a Caramelite nun - Then she wrote "The Jesus Hoax."
She is like us all - still searching for clarity, truth and an end to delusions.
HB
