
The Battle for God
A History of Fundamentalism
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $24.75
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Lisa Armytage
-
Karen Armstrong
-
By:
-
Karen Armstrong
About this listen
In the late 20th century, fundamentalism has emerged as one of the most powerful forces at work in the world, contesting the dominance of modern secular values and threatening peace and harmony around the globe. Yet it remains incomprehensible to a large number of people. In The Battle for God, Karen Armstrong brilliantly and sympathetically shows us how and why fundamentalist groups came into existence and what they yearn to accomplish.
We see the West in the 16th century beginning to create an entirely new kind of civilization, which brought in its wake change in every aspect of life - often painful and violent, even if liberating. Armstrong argues that one of the things that changed most was religion. People could no longer think about or experience the divine in the same way; they had to develop new forms of faith to fit their new circumstances.
Armstrong characterizes fundamentalism as one of these new ways of being religious that have emerged in every major faith tradition. Focusing on Protestant fundamentalism in the United States, Jewish fundamentalism in Israel, and Muslim fundamentalism in Egypt and Iran, she examines the ways in which these movements, while not monolithic, have each sprung from a dread of modernity - often in response to assault (sometimes unwitting, sometimes intentional) by the mainstream society.
Armstrong sees fundamentalist groups as complex, innovative, and modern - rather than as throwbacks to the past - but contends that they have failed in religious terms. Maintaining that fundamentalism often exists in symbiotic relationship with an aggressive modernity, each impelling the other on to greater excess, she suggests compassion as a way to defuse what is now an intensifying conflict.
©2000 Karen Armstrong (P)2020 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Case for God
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Karen Armstrong
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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 it called 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. Why has God become unbelievable?
-
-
Great recasting of how God should be interpreted
- By John Doyle on 02-18-11
By: Karen Armstrong
-
Jerusalem
- One City, Three Faiths
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Karen Armstrong, Lisa Armytage
- Length: 21 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Venerated for millennia by three faiths, torn by irreconcilable conflict, conquered, rebuilt, and mourned for again and again, Jerusalem is a sacred city whose very sacredness has engendered terrible tragedy. In this fascinating volume, Karen Armstrong, author of the highly praised A History of God, traces the history of how Jews, Christians, and Muslims have all laid claim to Jerusalem as their holy place, and how three radically different concepts of holiness have shaped and scarred the city for thousands of years.
-
-
A truly great history book
- By T on 05-08-22
By: Karen Armstrong
-
The Lost Art of Scripture
- Rescuing the Sacred Texts
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Karen Armstrong
- Length: 24 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this timely and important audiobook, one of the most trusted and admired writers on the world of faith examines the meaning of Scripture. The sacred texts have been co-opted by fundamentalists, who insist that they must be taken literally, and by others who interpret Scripture to bolster their own prejudices. These texts are seen to prescribe ethical norms and codes of behavior that are divinely ordained: They are believed to contain eternal truths. But as Karen Armstrong shows, such a narrow, peculiar reading of Scripture is a relatively recent, modern phenomenon.
-
-
Good religious history; complete recording
- By Claudia on 02-03-20
By: Karen Armstrong
-
Prequel
- An American Fight Against Fascism
- By: Rachel Maddow
- Narrated by: Rachel Maddow
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Inspired by her research for the hit podcast Ultra, Rachel Maddow charts the rise of a wild American strain of authoritarianism that has been alive on the far-right edge of our politics for the better part of a century. Before and even after our troops had begun fighting abroad in World War II, a clandestine network flooded the country with disinformation aimed at sapping the strength of the U.S. war effort and persuading Americans that our natural alliance was with the Axis, not against it.
-
-
The fight to keep democracy alive
- By Rex on 10-19-23
By: Rachel Maddow
-
The Great Transformation
- The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Karen Armstrong
- Length: 22 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From one of the world's leading writers on religion and the highly acclaimed author of the best-selling A History of God, The Battle for God, and The Spiral Staircase, comes a major new work: a chronicle of one of the most important intellectual revolutions in world history and its relevance to our own time.
-
-
Fills in the blanks
- By Laura on 09-20-06
By: Karen Armstrong
-
Muhammad
- A Prophet for Our Time
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Karen Armstrong
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling author of Islam: A Short History comes an important addition to the Eminent Lives book series. A former Roman Catholic nun and winner of a Muslim Public Affairs Council Media Award, Karen Armstrong shows how Muhammad's life can teach us a great deal about our world. More is known about Muhammad than any other major religion founder, yet he remains mysterious.
-
-
down to the man
- By David S. on 05-10-12
By: Karen Armstrong
-
The Case for God
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Karen Armstrong
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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 it called 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. Why has God become unbelievable?
-
-
Great recasting of how God should be interpreted
- By John Doyle on 02-18-11
By: Karen Armstrong
-
Jerusalem
- One City, Three Faiths
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Karen Armstrong, Lisa Armytage
- Length: 21 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Venerated for millennia by three faiths, torn by irreconcilable conflict, conquered, rebuilt, and mourned for again and again, Jerusalem is a sacred city whose very sacredness has engendered terrible tragedy. In this fascinating volume, Karen Armstrong, author of the highly praised A History of God, traces the history of how Jews, Christians, and Muslims have all laid claim to Jerusalem as their holy place, and how three radically different concepts of holiness have shaped and scarred the city for thousands of years.
-
-
A truly great history book
- By T on 05-08-22
By: Karen Armstrong
-
The Lost Art of Scripture
- Rescuing the Sacred Texts
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Karen Armstrong
- Length: 24 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this timely and important audiobook, one of the most trusted and admired writers on the world of faith examines the meaning of Scripture. The sacred texts have been co-opted by fundamentalists, who insist that they must be taken literally, and by others who interpret Scripture to bolster their own prejudices. These texts are seen to prescribe ethical norms and codes of behavior that are divinely ordained: They are believed to contain eternal truths. But as Karen Armstrong shows, such a narrow, peculiar reading of Scripture is a relatively recent, modern phenomenon.
-
-
Good religious history; complete recording
- By Claudia on 02-03-20
By: Karen Armstrong
-
Prequel
- An American Fight Against Fascism
- By: Rachel Maddow
- Narrated by: Rachel Maddow
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Inspired by her research for the hit podcast Ultra, Rachel Maddow charts the rise of a wild American strain of authoritarianism that has been alive on the far-right edge of our politics for the better part of a century. Before and even after our troops had begun fighting abroad in World War II, a clandestine network flooded the country with disinformation aimed at sapping the strength of the U.S. war effort and persuading Americans that our natural alliance was with the Axis, not against it.
-
-
The fight to keep democracy alive
- By Rex on 10-19-23
By: Rachel Maddow
-
The Great Transformation
- The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Karen Armstrong
- Length: 22 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From one of the world's leading writers on religion and the highly acclaimed author of the best-selling A History of God, The Battle for God, and The Spiral Staircase, comes a major new work: a chronicle of one of the most important intellectual revolutions in world history and its relevance to our own time.
-
-
Fills in the blanks
- By Laura on 09-20-06
By: Karen Armstrong
-
Muhammad
- A Prophet for Our Time
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Karen Armstrong
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling author of Islam: A Short History comes an important addition to the Eminent Lives book series. A former Roman Catholic nun and winner of a Muslim Public Affairs Council Media Award, Karen Armstrong shows how Muhammad's life can teach us a great deal about our world. More is known about Muhammad than any other major religion founder, yet he remains mysterious.
-
-
down to the man
- By David S. on 05-10-12
By: Karen Armstrong
-
Sacred Nature
- Restoring Our Ancient Bond with the Natural World
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Karen Armstrong
- Length: 5 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the beginning of time, humankind has looked upon nature and seen the divine. In the writings of the great thinkers across religions, the natural world inspires everything from fear, to awe, to tranquil contemplation; God, or however one defined the sublime, was present in everything. Yet today, even as we admire a tree or take in a striking landscape, we rarely see nature as sacred.
-
-
More of a political piece than a spiritual one
- By Amazon Customer on 01-26-23
By: Karen Armstrong
-
Islam
- A Short History [Modern Library Chronicles]
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Richard M. Davidson
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling author and renowned religious scholar Karen Armstrong presents a concise and articulate history of Islam, the world's fastest-growing faith. Beginning with the Prophet Muhammad's flight from Medina and concluding with an examination of modern Islamic practices and concerns, Armstrong delivers an unbiased overview. She contends that no religion is more feared and misunderstood by the Western world as Islam, and firmly challenges the notion that these two civilizations are on a collision course.
-
-
Read the Book, pass on the audible!
- By J********** on 08-21-06
By: Karen Armstrong
-
Fields of Blood
- Religion and the History of Violence
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Karen Armstrong
- Length: 20 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For the first time, religious self-identification is on the decline in American. Some analysts have cited as cause a post-9/11 perception: that faith in general is a source of aggression, intolerance, and divisiveness - something bad for society. But how accurate is that view? With deep learning and sympathetic understanding, Karen Armstrong sets out to discover the truth about religion and violence in each of the world’s great traditions, taking us on an astonishing journey from prehistoric times to the present.
-
-
Rethinking Violence and Religion
- By Milton Big Elk on 11-05-14
By: Karen Armstrong
-
The Qur'an
- A Biography: Books That Changed the World
- By: Bruce Lawrence
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few books in history have been as poorly understood as the Qur'an. In this audiobook, the distinguished historian of religion Bruce Lawrence shows precisely how the Qur'an is Islam. He describes the origins of the faith and assesses its influence on today's societies and politics. Above all, he emphasizes that the Qur'an is a sacred book of signs that has no single message. It is a book that demands interpretation and one that can be properly understood only through its history.
-
-
Not quite enough
- By Leigh A on 06-27-07
By: Bruce Lawrence
-
Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Karen Armstrong
- Length: 6 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Karen Armstrong believes that while compassion is intrinsic in all human beings, each of us needs to work diligently to cultivate and expand our capacity for compassion. Here, in this straightforward, thoughtful, and thought-provoking book, she sets out a program that can lead us toward a more compassionate life.
-
-
An Accessible, Digestible Manifesto About Kindness
- By Lizzie on 01-15-14
By: Karen Armstrong
-
David Lynch
- The Man from Another Place (Icons)
- By: Dennis Lim
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At once a pop culture icon, cult figure, and film industry outsider, master filmmaker David Lynch and his work defy easy definition. Dredged from his subconscious mind, Lynch's work is primed to act on our own subconscious, combining heightened, contradictory emotions into something familiar but inscrutable. No less than his art, Lynch's life also evades simple categorization, encompassing pursuits as a musician, painter, photographer, carpenter, entrepreneur, and vocal proponent of Transcendental Meditation.
-
-
Essential listening for Lunch fans
- By Michael P. Mesaros on 08-14-18
By: Dennis Lim
-
Buddha
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This rich, timely, and highly original portrait of the Buddha explores both the archetypal religious icon and Buddha the man. In lucid and compelling prose, Armstrong brings to life the Buddha's quest, from his renunciation of his privileged life to the discovery of a truth that he believed would utterly transform human beings and enable them to live at peace in the midst of life's suffering.
-
-
Eminently Listenable
- By JerryT on 01-23-05
By: Karen Armstrong
-
The Dead Sea Scrolls
- By: Gary A. Rendsburg, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Gary A. Rendsburg
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whether complete or only fragmentary, the 930 extant Dead Sea Scrolls irrevocably altered how we look at and understand the foundations of faith and religious practice. Now you can get a comprehensive introduction to this unique series of archaeological documents, and to scholars' evolving understanding of their authorship and significance, with these 24 lectures. Learn what the scrolls are, what they contain, and how the insights they offered into religious and ancient history came into focus.
-
-
A comprehensive overview of the Qumran Scrolls
- By Jacobus on 09-25-13
By: Gary A. Rendsburg, and others
-
God
- An Anatomy
- By: Francesca Stavrakopoulou
- Narrated by: Francesca Stavrakopoulou
- Length: 15 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The scholarship of theology and religion teaches us that the God of the Bible was without a body, only revealing himself in the Old Testament in words mysteriously uttered through his prophets, and in the New Testament in the body of Christ. The portrayal of God as corporeal and masculine is seen as merely metaphorical, figurative, or poetic. But, in this revelatory study, Francesca Stavrakopoulou presents a vividly corporeal image of God: a human-shaped deity who walks and talks and weeps and laughs, who eats, sleeps, feels, and breathes, and who is undeniably male.
-
-
GREAT READ!!
- By Chester Johnson on 04-27-23
-
The Foundations of Western Civilization
- By: Thomas F. X. Noble, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Thomas F. X. Noble
- Length: 24 hrs and 51 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What is Western Civilization? According to Professor Noble, it is "much more than human and political geography," encompassing myriad forms of political and institutional structures - from monarchies to participatory republics - and its own traditions of political discourse. It involves choices about who gets to participate in any given society and the ways in which societies have resolved the tension between individual self-interest and the common good.
-
-
Not Engaging or Very Interesting
- By Tommy D'Angelo on 03-05-17
By: Thomas F. X. Noble, and others
-
Jesus and John Wayne
- How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation
- By: Kristin Kobes du Mez
- Narrated by: Suzie Althens
- Length: 12 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How did a libertine who lacks even the most basic knowledge of the Christian faith win 81 percent of the white evangelical vote in 2016? And why have white evangelicals become a presidential reprobate's staunchest supporters? Jesus and John Wayne is a sweeping account of the last 75 years of white evangelicalism, showing how American evangelicals have worked for decades to replace the Jesus of the Gospels with an idol of rugged masculinity and Christian nationalism.
-
-
Like reading a history of my evangelical life
- By Renee on 10-15-20
-
Justice for Some
- Law and the Question of Palestine
- By: Noura Erakat
- Narrated by: Christine Rendel
- Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Justice for Some offers a new approach to understanding the Palestinian struggle for freedom, told through the power and control of international law. Focusing on key junctures—from the Balfour Declaration in 1917 to present-day wars in Gaza—Noura Erakat shows how the strategic deployment of law has shaped current conditions. Over the past century, the law has done more to advance Israel's interests than the Palestinians'. But, Erakat argues, this outcome was never inevitable.
-
-
Excellent book bizarrely NOT narrated by the author
- By Rosa on 10-12-23
By: Noura Erakat
Critic reviews
"One of the most penetrating, readable, and prescient accounts to date of the rise of the fundamentalist movements in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam." (The New York Times Book Review)
"Excellent...highly intelligent and highly readable.... This is a book that will prove indispensable...for anyone who seeks insight into how these powerful movements affect global politics and society today and into the future." (The Baltimore Sun)
"Armstrong succeeds brilliantly.... With her astonishing depth of knowledge and readily accessible writing style, [she] makes an ideal guide in traversing a subject that is by its very nature complex, sensitive and frequently ambiguous." (The San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle)
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Case for God
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Karen Armstrong
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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 it called 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. Why has God become unbelievable?
-
-
Great recasting of how God should be interpreted
- By John Doyle on 02-18-11
By: Karen Armstrong
-
Muhammad
- A Prophet for Our Time
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Karen Armstrong
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling author of Islam: A Short History comes an important addition to the Eminent Lives book series. A former Roman Catholic nun and winner of a Muslim Public Affairs Council Media Award, Karen Armstrong shows how Muhammad's life can teach us a great deal about our world. More is known about Muhammad than any other major religion founder, yet he remains mysterious.
-
-
down to the man
- By David S. on 05-10-12
By: Karen Armstrong
-
God
- A Human History
- By: Reza Aslan
- Narrated by: Reza Aslan
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In layered prose and with thoughtful, accessible scholarship, Aslan narrates the history of religion as one long and remarkably cohesive attempt to understand the divine by giving it human traits and emotions. According to Aslan, this innate desire to humanize God is hardwired in our brains, making it a central feature of nearly every religious tradition. As Aslan writes, "Whether we are aware of it or not, and regardless if we are believers or not, what the vast majority of us think about when we think about God is a divine version of ourselves."
-
-
His best work yet
- By Jeff M on 11-15-17
By: Reza Aslan
-
The Qur'an
- A Biography: Books That Changed the World
- By: Bruce Lawrence
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few books in history have been as poorly understood as the Qur'an. In this audiobook, the distinguished historian of religion Bruce Lawrence shows precisely how the Qur'an is Islam. He describes the origins of the faith and assesses its influence on today's societies and politics. Above all, he emphasizes that the Qur'an is a sacred book of signs that has no single message. It is a book that demands interpretation and one that can be properly understood only through its history.
-
-
Not quite enough
- By Leigh A on 06-27-07
By: Bruce Lawrence
-
The Future of God
- The Reclaiming of Spirituality’s Mystical Roots
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Karen Armstrong
- Length: 1 hr
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What does tomorrow hold for the way we worship God? In The Future of God, Karen Armstrong guides us through a bewildering landscape, over many centuries and civilizations, to show how our concept of God has evolved with the passage of time. Armstrong suggests ways that prayer, imagination, and silence can help everyone on the spiritual path today enter the mystery within our depths and recognize God in ourselves and others.
-
-
Enlightened
- By bakedAlaska on 10-22-19
By: Karen Armstrong
-
A History of God
- Elohim, Yahweh, and Allah
- By: Joseph Lumpkin
- Narrated by: Josh Albert
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this audiobook, we will look at the history of the three deities making up the bulk of the world's religions and the evolution of the religions formed from the worship of these three deities. We will examine the history and development of Elohim, Yahweh, and Allah. In doing so, we will also look at the teachings of Jesus and Mohammed and their influence on the Christian and Islamic faiths respectively. By an objective examination of the Gods of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths, we shall see how man's views of these deities changed over time.
-
-
bad book
- By Talal Jasim Alammar on 03-04-24
By: Joseph Lumpkin
-
The Case for God
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Karen Armstrong
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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 it called 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. Why has God become unbelievable?
-
-
Great recasting of how God should be interpreted
- By John Doyle on 02-18-11
By: Karen Armstrong
-
Muhammad
- A Prophet for Our Time
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Karen Armstrong
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling author of Islam: A Short History comes an important addition to the Eminent Lives book series. A former Roman Catholic nun and winner of a Muslim Public Affairs Council Media Award, Karen Armstrong shows how Muhammad's life can teach us a great deal about our world. More is known about Muhammad than any other major religion founder, yet he remains mysterious.
-
-
down to the man
- By David S. on 05-10-12
By: Karen Armstrong
-
God
- A Human History
- By: Reza Aslan
- Narrated by: Reza Aslan
- Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In layered prose and with thoughtful, accessible scholarship, Aslan narrates the history of religion as one long and remarkably cohesive attempt to understand the divine by giving it human traits and emotions. According to Aslan, this innate desire to humanize God is hardwired in our brains, making it a central feature of nearly every religious tradition. As Aslan writes, "Whether we are aware of it or not, and regardless if we are believers or not, what the vast majority of us think about when we think about God is a divine version of ourselves."
-
-
His best work yet
- By Jeff M on 11-15-17
By: Reza Aslan
-
The Qur'an
- A Biography: Books That Changed the World
- By: Bruce Lawrence
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few books in history have been as poorly understood as the Qur'an. In this audiobook, the distinguished historian of religion Bruce Lawrence shows precisely how the Qur'an is Islam. He describes the origins of the faith and assesses its influence on today's societies and politics. Above all, he emphasizes that the Qur'an is a sacred book of signs that has no single message. It is a book that demands interpretation and one that can be properly understood only through its history.
-
-
Not quite enough
- By Leigh A on 06-27-07
By: Bruce Lawrence
-
The Future of God
- The Reclaiming of Spirituality’s Mystical Roots
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Karen Armstrong
- Length: 1 hr
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What does tomorrow hold for the way we worship God? In The Future of God, Karen Armstrong guides us through a bewildering landscape, over many centuries and civilizations, to show how our concept of God has evolved with the passage of time. Armstrong suggests ways that prayer, imagination, and silence can help everyone on the spiritual path today enter the mystery within our depths and recognize God in ourselves and others.
-
-
Enlightened
- By bakedAlaska on 10-22-19
By: Karen Armstrong
-
A History of God
- Elohim, Yahweh, and Allah
- By: Joseph Lumpkin
- Narrated by: Josh Albert
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this audiobook, we will look at the history of the three deities making up the bulk of the world's religions and the evolution of the religions formed from the worship of these three deities. We will examine the history and development of Elohim, Yahweh, and Allah. In doing so, we will also look at the teachings of Jesus and Mohammed and their influence on the Christian and Islamic faiths respectively. By an objective examination of the Gods of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths, we shall see how man's views of these deities changed over time.
-
-
bad book
- By Talal Jasim Alammar on 03-04-24
By: Joseph Lumpkin
-
Sacred Nature
- Restoring Our Ancient Bond with the Natural World
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Karen Armstrong
- Length: 5 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the beginning of time, humankind has looked upon nature and seen the divine. In the writings of the great thinkers across religions, the natural world inspires everything from fear, to awe, to tranquil contemplation; God, or however one defined the sublime, was present in everything. Yet today, even as we admire a tree or take in a striking landscape, we rarely see nature as sacred.
-
-
More of a political piece than a spiritual one
- By Amazon Customer on 01-26-23
By: Karen Armstrong
-
The Information
- A History, a Theory, a Flood
- By: James Gleick
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 16 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
James Gleick, the author of the best sellers Chaos and Genius, now brings us a work just as astonishing and masterly: A revelatory chronicle and meditation that shows how information has become the modern era’s defining quality - the blood, the fuel, the vital principle of our world. The story of information begins in a time profoundly unlike our own, when every thought and utterance vanishes as soon as it is born.
-
-
Brilliant book, heroic reader, better in print?
- By A reader on 03-12-11
By: James Gleick
-
Buddha
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This rich, timely, and highly original portrait of the Buddha explores both the archetypal religious icon and Buddha the man. In lucid and compelling prose, Armstrong brings to life the Buddha's quest, from his renunciation of his privileged life to the discovery of a truth that he believed would utterly transform human beings and enable them to live at peace in the midst of life's suffering.
-
-
Eminently Listenable
- By JerryT on 01-23-05
By: Karen Armstrong
-
The Ascent of Humanity
- Civilization and the Human Sense of Self
- By: Charles Eisenstein
- Narrated by: Steve Wojtas
- Length: 27 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charles Eisenstein explores the history and potential future of civilization, tracing the converging crises of our age to the illusion of the separate self. He argues that our disconnection from one another and the natural world has mislaid the foundations of science, religion, money, technology, economics, medicine, and education as we know them. It has fired our near-pathological pursuit of technological Utopias even as we push ourselves and our planet to the brink of collapse.
-
-
Interesting ideas but lots of negativity
- By Dan B on 05-22-23
-
One Day
- The Extraordinary Story of an Ordinary 24 Hours in America
- By: Gene Weingarten
- Narrated by: Johnathan McClain
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On New Year’s Day 2013, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Gene Weingarten asked three strangers to, literally, pluck a day, month, and year from a hat. That day - chosen completely at random - was Sunday, December 28, 1986, by any conventional measure a most ordinary day. Weingarten spent the next six years proving that there is no such thing. That Sunday between Christmas and New Year’s turned out to be filled with comedy, tragedy, implausible irony, cosmic comeuppances, kindness, cruelty, heroism, cowardice, genius, idiocy, and much more....
-
-
I'm giving this book more credit for its concept
- By J. F. Boyd on 12-24-19
By: Gene Weingarten
-
Fields of Blood
- Religion and the History of Violence
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Karen Armstrong
- Length: 20 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For the first time, religious self-identification is on the decline in American. Some analysts have cited as cause a post-9/11 perception: that faith in general is a source of aggression, intolerance, and divisiveness - something bad for society. But how accurate is that view? With deep learning and sympathetic understanding, Karen Armstrong sets out to discover the truth about religion and violence in each of the world’s great traditions, taking us on an astonishing journey from prehistoric times to the present.
-
-
Rethinking Violence and Religion
- By Milton Big Elk on 11-05-14
By: Karen Armstrong
-
The Great Transformation
- The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Karen Armstrong
- Length: 22 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From one of the world's leading writers on religion and the highly acclaimed author of the best-selling A History of God, The Battle for God, and The Spiral Staircase, comes a major new work: a chronicle of one of the most important intellectual revolutions in world history and its relevance to our own time.
-
-
Fills in the blanks
- By Laura on 09-20-06
By: Karen Armstrong
-
The Lost Art of Scripture
- Rescuing the Sacred Texts
- By: Karen Armstrong
- Narrated by: Karen Armstrong
- Length: 24 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this timely and important audiobook, one of the most trusted and admired writers on the world of faith examines the meaning of Scripture. The sacred texts have been co-opted by fundamentalists, who insist that they must be taken literally, and by others who interpret Scripture to bolster their own prejudices. These texts are seen to prescribe ethical norms and codes of behavior that are divinely ordained: They are believed to contain eternal truths. But as Karen Armstrong shows, such a narrow, peculiar reading of Scripture is a relatively recent, modern phenomenon.
-
-
Good religious history; complete recording
- By Claudia on 02-03-20
By: Karen Armstrong
-
The American Miracle
- Divine Providence in the Rise of the Republic
- By: Michael Medved
- Narrated by: Michael Medved
- Length: 15 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The history of the United States displays an uncanny pattern: At moments of crisis, when the odds against success seem overwhelming and disaster looks imminent, fate intervenes to provide deliverance and progress. Historians may categorize these incidents as happy accidents, callous crimes, or the products of brilliant leadership, but the most notable leaders of the past 400 years have identified this good fortune as something else - a reflection of divine providence.
-
-
Amazing Book
- By Larry on 12-01-16
By: Michael Medved
-
How to Win a Cosmic War
- God, Globalization, and the End of the War on Terror
- By: Reza Aslan
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A cosmic war is a religious war. It is a battle not between armies or nations, but between the forces of good and evil, a war in which God is believed to be directly engaged on behalf of one side against the other. The hijackers who attacked the United States on September 11, 2001, thought they were fighting a cosmic war. According to award-winning writer and scholar of religions Reza Aslan, by infusing the United States War on Terror with the same kind of religiously polarizing rhetoric and Manichean worldview, is also fighting a cosmic war - a war that can’t be won.
-
-
Unrealistic
- By Garry on 04-26-09
By: Reza Aslan
-
Black Earth
- The Holocaust as History and Warning
- By: Timothy Snyder
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 16 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this epic history of extermination and survival, Timothy Snyder presents a new explanation of the great atrocity of the twentieth century, and reveals the risks that we face in the twenty-first. Based on untapped sources from eastern Europe and forgotten testimonies from Jewish survivors, Black Earth recounts the mass murder of the Jews as an event that is still close to us, more comprehensible than we would like to think and thus all the more terrifying.
-
-
Tough book but worth it!
- By Amazon customer on 11-20-15
By: Timothy Snyder
-
Zealot
- The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
- By: Reza Aslan
- Narrated by: Reza Aslan
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the internationally bestselling author of No god but God comes a fascinating, provocative, and meticulously researched biography that challenges long-held assumptions about the man we know as Jesus of Nazareth. Sifting through centuries of mythmaking, Reza Aslan sheds new light on one of history's most influential and enigmatic characters by examining Jesus through the lens of the tumultuous era in which he lived: first-century Palestine, an age awash in apocalyptic fervor.
-
-
Vivid and well-researched
- By Tad Davis on 07-21-13
By: Reza Aslan
What listeners say about The Battle for God
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ahmir Khan
- 03-17-25
Where does religious fundamentalism come from?
This is a remarkable and eye-opening book that has helped me understand the concept of religion, the source of fundamentalism and how it applies to everything we are seeing in our (the US) and other countries' (Israel and Muslim countries) current political climates.
The concept of religion helping to tie mythos (the story) with logos (practical wisdom), the need for balance between the two, the supreme importance of ritual to help confirm this has really helped me understand the most basic concept of religion. The author has unlocked why religion is so important, why it is so human, and why it is necessary to being a human. It is necessary to understand a world that does not always make sense, and lays down laws to govern a world that does not make sense. You can tell the author has a great deal of respect for religion and this is by no means a book on why religion is bad. It is specifically a book on you can start with an ideology that has so many positives (societal and individually), but somehow warp it to construct something that is extreme and damaging. The idea of fundamentalism occurs as a reaction to an external factor - modernity, colonialism, science or isolation, when religion feels boxed in and has no release. It is these external factors that squeeze religion, forcing thinkers to pick and choose aspects of religion, and thus create fundamentalists. The history of fundamentalism is SO important to understand this - you cannot understand Jewish fundamentalism without understanding Jewish isolation in Eastern Europe, Islamic fundamentalism without understanding Western colonialism and pressure, and Christian Fundamentalism without understanding the American Protestant reaction to the Enlightenment, rationalism and science.
The chapters on American Protestant fundamentalism are particularly incisive, as it so clearly explains everything that is occurring in the US right now. The author even remarks how the US might eventually decide on a fascist ideology at some point, and this book was written 25 years ago (in 2000)!! Everything that is being done by the current administration are foretold in this book, as this has been the goal of the Protestant Fundamentalists since they began to organize their beliefs and ideology in the early 70s (see the Christian Reconstructionists).
This book was written in 2000, and given how much has changed in the last 25 years, I would have loved to known how her conclusions would be different. In the late 90s, it seemed like the fundamentalists in all 3 religions were losing influence. Safe to say, the opposite is now true.
It is a long, but important book. I would encourage anyone to read this if they truly want to understand this world we live in.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Brendan J. Mcsherry
- 12-26-22
The best overview of religious fundamentalism in the 3 Abrahamic faiths
This is essential reading for anyone interested in religious fundamentalism, both for the breadth and readability of the content covered, and for the importance of Armstrong’s argument within scholarly and non-scholarly circles.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tony R.
- 03-06-25
Very Illuminating
This book was particularly enlightening given events occurring in the US and globally at the opening of 2025. It puts many historical occurrences in context and explains motivations for groups within the US and their actions over the last decade, particularly the role of fascist ideology and authoritarianism in the service of religion. I hope the author will revisit this material at some point with updated information and commentary about developments from 2000 to present.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Marielle Sander Lindstrom
- 10-03-23
An education for the modern world
I’m already a fan of Karen Armstrong’s work but I had missed this essential piece of reading. Like other reviewers I was stunned to realize that the book was published in paperback years ago because the material feels new and highly relevant for our understanding of the conservative (religious) movements across different faiths around the world today. It has given me new historical and necessary insights into different world views. I highly recommend this to a reader interested in having a better understanding of the world today.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kenneth
- 03-12-21
Faith, compassion, and politics!
Where does God end and the Devil begin? Karen Armstrong challenge to ideology and the best and worst of human nature never fails to deliver.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Daniel McCormick
- 09-27-21
Expert analysis of fundamentalism, of mythos/logos
useful for understanding the (relatively) current state of affairs in Christian, Jewish, and Islamic fundamentalism. provides a persuasive argument for the modern roots of fundamentalism and of its misunderstanding and misuse of logos and mythos
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- james Convery
- 09-22-22
Great Read
This has given me a much better understanding of the present world
I will listen to it again
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 08-05-24
fundamentalism
The examples of fundamentalism across all religions narrated in the book were riveting. after listening to this book, I do not know how anyone can blindly follow an organized religion. however, as human beings, we have a spiritual side that needs to be nourished and without religion People's lives somtiems lack meaning
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- D. A. Vail
- 12-29-20
The most important book you haven’t read yet
I was stunned to discover that the paper version came out 20 years ago. At the very end, that becomes clear, but what doesn’t change is the importance of the analysis, and the prescience of the book’s publication. Wondering how the world got where it is? Read this book!
One final point. Armstrong is, of course, an historian of religion, but this book also works as profound sociology of knowledge, and pretty good political science, to boot!
Do yourself a favor. Read the book!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bruce Scott SR.
- 12-02-24
Must have an open mind and heart.
This book gives an overview of how some of our beliefs come about.
At no time did the author say you shouldn’t believe in God.
She basically stated how some views of God came about in the 3 major religions.
You of course can accept or reject it.
I found it to be enlightening.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful