Jianyang Zhang History 2351 5/11/2014 Karen Armstrong‚ Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time (San Francisco: Harper‚ 1992) Pp.240 The author of the book Muhammad: A Prophet of Our Time‚ Karen Armstrong‚ born on 14 November 1944 is a well-known British author and commentator for her books on comparative religion. She is a provocative‚ original thinker on the role of religion in the contemporary world. Being a religious thinker‚ she has written more than 20 books on faith and the major religions
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The History of God A History of God: The 4‚000 Year Quest of Judaism‚ Christianity and Islam tells the story of‚ as the title might suggest‚ how the idea of God was created and how it has been altered by religious groups and people throughout history. The author‚ Karen Armstrong‚ does this by starting with the first Jews and their belief in pagan gods‚ and going as far as questioning wether God has a place in modern society at all. Mrs. Armstrong was a part of a devout Roman Catholic family‚ but
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10189496 Queen’s University RELS131 October 25 2015 A History of God Novel Critique Karen Armstrong’s novel‚ A History of God‚ is a well known and prominent chronicle of how the Abrahamic traditions have developed over the past four thousand years. In this book‚ Armstrong addresses how the three most commonly practiced monotheistic religions; Islam‚ Judaism and Christianity‚ have been shaped and developed throughout history. Like many pieces of literature‚ this book has positive characteristics
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be beneficial‚ our ego does more harm than good. As Armstrong explains‚ “we instinctively feel that that we must protect the fragile ego from anything that threatens it” (Armstrong 16). With that in mind‚ it is also important to understand that our ego is only a product of our creation. Like fear‚ our ego can also be broken so that we can begin to fill our lives with positivity and happiness. Barbara Fredrickson‚ in her “Love 2.0”‚ Karen Armstrong‚ in her “Homo Religiosus”‚ and Robert Thurman‚ in his
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names include John Hick‚ Michael Goulder‚ John Herman Randall‚ Karen Armstrong‚ and Paul Tillich. Two primary vantage points exist in this discussion: the theistic view‚ in which the individual believes in an ultimate‚ transcendent being called “God‚” and the non-theistic view‚ in which the individual sees “God” as a hypothesis rather than another Holy Being. To draw focus toward three particular names-- John Herman Randall‚ Karen Armstrong‚ and Paul Tillich-- is to draw specific attention to a compelling
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In order to make an argument contrary to the beliefs of many Americans‚ Karen Armstrong uses her biography Muhammad to portray Islam as a religion that was created simply to seek social change in a problematic time period. One central theme of the book is that at the time when Islam was created‚ it was helpful‚ almost necessary to the people of 7th century Arabia‚ as their lives were undergoing a period of rapid change. In fact‚ one could even take away from Muhammad that the message of Islam could
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life in this way‚ it doesn’t mean that becoming a better person is easy. Individuals don’t know where to start in bettering themselves and what bettering themselves means to them. Karen Armstrong’s essay “Homo Religiosus‚” discusses the highly prominent role of religion and its underlying arts and disciplines. Armstrong discusses the different religions of the ancient past and the characteristics that encompass them. She looks at the various arts and disciplines seen throughout these religions. Oliver
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A short history about the world’s fastest growing religion and of the man‚ who seeded the plant of Islam himself‚ Muhammad (saw). Armstrong writes this book in a humanist style and introduces the reader to the cultural and historical background of the life of Mohammed and the revelation of the Quran. She first starts with the West’s long history of hostility toward Islam‚ which has often led to the stigma of “a religion of the sword." She contradicts this ideology‚ by this sympathetic‚ captivating
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Since the creation of religion‚ there has always been a debate to whether or not religion is the main cause of conflicts throughout history. In Karen Armstrong’s book “Fields of Blood”‚ she argues that people use religion as an excuse for the cause of wars and ignore all other aspects. Karen Armstrong is correct. Throughout history‚ there were many wars and conflicts that weren’t caused by religion yet many leaders used the blame of religion to their advantage to conceal their true intentions. Wars
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Armstrong‚ Karen. Islam. New York: Random House‚ Inc.‚ 2000. Islam is the world’s fastest growing faith. It all began in 610 C.E. when the Prophet Muhammad received revelations of the Quran in Mecca. Islam’s reputation of promoting a strict and controlling government‚ female oppression‚ civil war‚ and terrorism is not completely correct. Islam is a rich and complex religion that is often misunderstood in the modern world. There have been many obstacles that have been faced. Islam wouldn’t exist
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