This is discussion of books Karen Armstrong has written. We have gathered a few book reviews to point out who Karen is and what her approach is to the history of three faiths. We bring her books into the bookshop to learn the agenda of the New World Order not to learn the Gospel. The Gospel is in the Bible, KJV, unbiased. We do not go to other books anymore to get the WORD OF GOD.
She wrote a number of books and some are out of prints. She has followers who keep the message going who are writing from that perspective.

Some of her books are: A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths, Islam: A Short History by Karen Armstrong

Amazon.com about Christianity and Islam, Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths by Karen Armstrong, a British journalist and former nun, guides us along one of the most elusive and fascinating quests of all time--the search for God. Like all beloved historians, Armstrong entertains us with deft storytelling, astounding research, and makes us feel a greater appreciation for the present because we better understand our past. Be warned: A History of God is not a tidy linear history. Rather, we learn that the definition of God is constantly being repeated, altered, discarded, and resurrected through the ages, responding to its followers' practical concerns rather than to mystical mandates. Armstrong also shows us how Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have overlapped and influenced one another, gently challenging the secularist history of each of these religions. --Gail Hudson

Amazon:About A history of God which is an impressive work, Armstrong.. takes on a weighty topic indeed: the study of monotheism over 4,000 years. Beginning at the beginning (which is not Genesis but rather the cauldron of religions found in the Middle East around 4000 B.C.), she traces the circuitous road to monotheism, following the plethora of twists and turns along the way.

Book Review: Be careful of author's bias, May 15, 2002 from Edina, Minnesota United States
As someone who is not part of the Jewish, Muslim or Christian world, I found Ms Armstrong's narrative well-paced and meticulously detailed. This book is written from the point of view of a religion expert, and the construction of the pre-Christian times of Jerusalem are particularly creative and evocative. Certainly, Ms Armstrong captures the complexity of problems that Jerusalem faces.

Be careful, though, of Ms Armstrong's strongly pro-Muslim bias. The history and present of Jerusalem are convoluted to say the least and Ms Armstrong does tend to paint the Muslim community's role and current stance with flattering brush strokes, and that of the Jews and Christian with disparaging ones.

I do agree with her eventual conclusion - tragically, the history of Jerusalem does not make a solution to the current situation very likely. In fact, it is possible to see history being repeated for the umpteenth time with the most recent events.

Book Review 2 by Alyssa A. Lappen from Earth. Karen Armstrong labels herself a "freelance monotheist" and, as a British ex-nun, has some knowledge of religious history. But in this book, as she often does, Ms. Armstrong effusively promotes Islam while maintaining persistently negative characterizations of Judaism, and to a lesser extent, Christianity. These contrasts color her narrative of the ancient city established by King David as a capital of the Jewish people in Biblical times.

The book, for example, describes Islam's "inclusive notion of holiness," the Qur'an's humane attitudes and Islam's benign expansion. In contrast, it deplores Judaism's "separations and exclusions," which the book exemplifies by citing Jewish dietary laws, observance of Shabbat and ancient regulations that controlled who could enter the first and second Temples. The book, however, does not compare these supposed weaknesses in Jewish observance to Dhimmi laws imposed by Jerusalem's Muslim conquerors during Medieval times, as explained in Moshe Gil's History of Palestine, or to the fact that the holy city of Mecca remains closed to all non-Muslims even now.

Ostensibly about three faiths in Jerusalem, the book fails to mention Judaism's strong attachment to it, or that this city of the first and second Jewish Temples (constructed in Biblical times) figures prominently in dozens of Jewish prayers and holiday celebrations, many of which originated here. Omitted are the tremendous devotion felt by religious Jews to Jerusalem and more than 600 citations to it in the Jewish Old Testament.

The book also portrays Israeli's rule in Jerusalem derisively, as one which "cannot be justified in Jewish tradition by the overriding sanctity of Jerusalem," by virtue of the inescapable "moral imperative to justice" emanating from holiness. But in recounting the city's history, the book neglects Jordan's illegal rule over the Old City of Jerusalem from 1948 to 1967, which went unrecognized by most nations and the United Nations. Nor does the book note that during that period 100,000 Jews were evicted, all 58 Jerusalem synagogues destroyed and headstones from the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives were used to line roads and latrines. This volume, finally, does not acknowledge that Israel's rule opened all previously closed religious sites to all faiths, except for the Temple Mount, which Palestinian Authority administration has closed to all non-Muslims.

In other words, Ms. Armstrong's history of Jerusalem does not fairly reflect the city's religious significance to all three faiths. It favors Islam, at the expense of Judaism and Christianity. Better history can be found in Jerusalem in the Twentieth Century (Martin Gilbert), O Jerusalem (Larry Collins and Dominique LaPierre) or Jerusalem and its Environs (Ruth Kark and Michal Oren-Nordheim). Alyssa A. Lappen

Review 3: In the interest of coexistence, January 1, 2003 Reviewer: Juan Larach, member Baha'i Faith from San Francisco, California. I have read this book carefully and later many reviews by those with an Islamic, Christian or Jewish perspective. I must say that I did not find strong biases in any direction. [No because she is of the Baha' faith of Islamic origin.] I am surprised by those reviewers that did. Ms. Armstrong's representations are in the interest of tolerance, coexistence and unity. The details are insightful and some facts of history might rattle those very attached to preconceived religio-centric historical views.

Review 4 Interesting but biased, April 10, 2002 Reviewer: A reader..
I have just finished reading this book and A History of God and found them both interesting but biased. Ms. Armstrong explains away all actinos and atrocities committed by Muslims while highlighting and denouncing actions taken by Christians and Jews. for example, in her view the building of mosques and other holy Islamic shrines are welcome but similar activities by Christians and Jews are considered to be "putting facts on the ground so that they may control Jerusalem." Repeatedly, Muslims defend themselves against the aggression and atrocities of Christians and Jews but their atrocities are justified because the others acted first. I cannot vouch for her "facts" but I can unequivocally state that her interpretation of those "facts" does a strong disservice to the hope of having Muslims, Christians and Jews understand each other and find ways of creating peace.

Book Review 5: Great food for thought, December 6, 2000 Reviewer: Beau Yarbrough from North Hollywood, CA USA. While taking an unbiased view of the history and interactions of the three monotheistic religions that follow the tradition of Abraham seems destined to offend some. "A History of God" is a book that tackles the hard issues with sensitivity and intelligence.

Karen Armstrong is at her best in the opening and closing thirds of the book, where she examines the climate Judaism originally sprang from and then where the three great religions are today. In between, the book is almost too full of information, with important movements and sects getting only a paragraph at times, due to Armstrong's rush to cover everything, at least in passing. The middle sections desperately need a study guide, or a Web browser (not available when I first read the book, in its first edition in the early 1990s) to find out more about the different thinkers and movements.

But even at its densest, Armstrong does an excellent job of discussing the crisis points all three religions came to and how each handled it. (Have a thick skin when your faith is addressed, as the all-too-human members of each major religion have dropped the ball, and Armstrong shows how it happened, although she never passes judgement.)

Not a quick read, or a light one, but educational and inspiring. Whether used to enrich one's understanding of their own faith, or for insight into the world around us, "A History of God" is an excellent overview of the history of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Book Review 6: Comprehensive, Challenging, and of Great Significance, August 7, 2000. Reviewer: Kenghis Khan from Tokyo, Japan. Armstrong's "History of God", much like Jaspers' "Great Philosophers", is a truly first rate introduction to the field of religious history for three primary reasons. Firstly, as somebody relatively unfamiliar with the major monotheistic traditions, I found the breadth and scope of the work to be simply amazing. The variety of periods which Armstrong covers and the extent to which she covers them makes even a new comer to the field such as myself leave the work with a significantly deeper understanding of the disciplines of western theology and religious philosophy and the course they have taken. Secondly, this work is a serious commentary on the Western European/North American mind. As somebody frequently troubled by the western (but particularly American) emphasis on the literal character of the Bible and their respective canons, Armstrong's book sheds light on the nature and history of this peculiar tradition of western European thought. Finally, the extent and rigor which Armstrong applies to her research is indicative of the high academic quality of this work. Thus while the book is of immense value to the uninitiated, even to the very scholarly it retains a high level of value. While a more thorough discussion of the modern developments in Eastern Christian thought would have been appreciated (if for nothing else but for the sake of balance), Armstrong's book is a work of amazing scholarly achievement that is at once both a fabulous introduction to understanding serious thought about the divine in Islam, Christianity, and Judaism and an amazing commentary on the world view of AMericans and Western Europeans. I recommend it very highly.