Karen Armstrong Popular Books

Karen Armstrong Biography & Facts

Karen Armstrong (born 14 November 1944) is a British author and commentator of Irish Catholic descent known for her books on comparative religion. A former Roman Catholic religious sister, she went from a conservative to a more liberal and mystical Christian faith. She attended St Anne's College, Oxford, while in the convent and majored in English. She left the convent in 1969. Her work focuses on commonalities of the major religions, such as the importance of compassion and the Golden Rule. Armstrong received the US$100,000 TED Prize in February 2008. She used that occasion to call for the creation of a Charter for Compassion, which was unveiled the following year. Personal life Armstrong was born at Wildmoor, Worcestershire, into a family of Irish ancestry who, after her birth, moved to Bromsgrove and later to Birmingham. In 1962, at the age of 17, she became a member of the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus, a teaching congregation, in which she remained for seven years. Armstrong says she suffered physical and psychological abuse in the convent; according to an article in The Guardian newspaper, "Armstrong was required to mortify her flesh with whips and wear a spiked chain around her arm. When she spoke out of turn, she claims she was forced to sew at a treadle machine with no needle for a fortnight."Once she had advanced from postulant and novice to professed nun, she enrolled in St Anne's College, Oxford, to study English. Armstrong left her order in 1969 while still a student at Oxford. After graduating with a Congratulatory First, she embarked on a DPhil on the poet Alfred Tennyson. According to Armstrong, she wrote her dissertation on a topic that had been approved by the university committee. Nevertheless, it was failed by her external examiner on the grounds that the topic had been unsuitable. Armstrong did not formally protest this verdict, nor did she embark upon a new topic but instead abandoned hope of an academic career. She reports that this period in her life was marked by ill-health stemming from her lifelong but, at that time, still undiagnosed temporal lobe epilepsy.Around this time she was lodged with Jenifer and Herbert Hart, looking after their disabled son, as told in her memoir The Spiral Staircase.Armstrong is unmarried. Although she had once described herself as a "freelance monotheist," more recently she said, "I wouldn't even call myself a monotheist anymore. ... If anything, I'm a Confucian, I think." Career In 1976, Armstrong took a job teaching English at James Allen's Girls' School in Dulwich while working on a memoir of her convent experiences. This was published in 1982 as Through the Narrow Gate to excellent reviews. That year she embarked on a new career as an independent writer and broadcasting presenter. In 1984, the British Channel Four commissioned her to write and present a television documentary on the life of St. Paul, The First Christian, a project that involved traveling to the Holy Land to retrace the steps of the saint. Armstrong described this visit as a "breakthrough experience" that defied her prior assumptions and provided the inspiration for virtually all her subsequent work. In A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam (1993), she traces the evolution of the three major monotheistic traditions from their beginnings in the Middle East up to the present day and also discusses Hinduism and Buddhism. As guiding "luminaries" in her approach, Armstrong acknowledges (in The Spiral Staircase and elsewhere) the late Canadian theologian Wilfred Cantwell Smith, a Protestant minister, and the Jesuit father Bernard Lonergan. In 1996, she published Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths. Armstrong's The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions (2006) continues the themes covered in A History of God and examines the emergence and codification of the world's great religions during the so-called Axial Age identified by Karl Jaspers. In the year of its publication Armstrong was invited to choose her eight favourite records for BBC Radio's Desert Island Discs programme. She has made several appearances on television, including on Rageh Omaar's programme The Life of Muhammad. Her work has been translated into forty-five languages. She was an advisor for the award-winning, PBS-broadcast documentary Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet (2002), produced by Unity Productions Foundation. In 2007 the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore invited Armstrong to deliver the MUIS Lecture.Armstrong is a fellow of the Jesus Seminar, a group of scholars and laypeople which attempts to investigate the historical foundations of Christianity. She has written numerous articles for The Guardian and for other publications. She was a key advisor on Bill Moyers' popular PBS series on religion, has addressed members of the United States Congress, and was one of three scholars to speak at the UN's first ever session on religion. She is a vice-president of the British Epilepsy Association, otherwise known as Epilepsy Action. Armstrong, who has taught courses at Leo Baeck College, a rabbinical college and centre for Jewish education located in North London, says she has been particularly inspired by the Jewish tradition's emphasis on practice as well as faith: "I say that religion isn't about believing things. It's about what you do. It's ethical alchemy. It's about behaving in a way that changes you, that gives you intimations of holiness and sacredness." She maintains that religious fundamentalism is not just a response to, but is a product of contemporary culture and for this reason concludes that, "We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensable to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community."Awarded the $100,000 TED Prize in February 2008, Armstrong called for drawing up a Charter for Compassion, in the spirit of the Golden Rule, to identify shared moral priorities across religious traditions, in order to foster global understanding and a peaceful world. It was presented in Washington, D.C. in November 2009. Signatories include Queen Noor of Jordan, the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Paul Simon.In 2012, the Jack P. Blaney Award for Dialogue recognized her outstanding achievement in advancing understanding about and among world religions, and promoting compassion as a way of life. During her award residency in Canada, Armstrong gave the "State of the Charter for Compassion Global Address" and co-launched a compassionate cities initiative in Vancouver. Honours In 1999 Armstrong received the Muslim Public Affairs Council's Media .... Discover the Karen Armstrong popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Karen Armstrong books.

Best Seller Karen Armstrong Books of 2024

  • Sacred Nature synopsis, comments

    Sacred Nature

    Karen Armstrong

    From one of the most original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern world, a profound exploration of the spiritual power of natureand an urgent call to reclaim that power ...

  • The Great Transformation synopsis, comments

    The Great Transformation

    Karen Armstrong

    NATIONAL BESTSELLER An extraordinary investigation of a critical moment in the evolution of religious thoughtfrom the New York Times bestselling author of A History of God and The...

  • The Quest for Meaning synopsis, comments

    The Quest for Meaning

    Tariq Ramadan

    In The Quest for Meaning, Tariq Ramadan, philosopher and Islamic scholar, invites the reader to join him on a journey to the deep ocean of religious, secular, and indigenous spirit...

  • A History of God synopsis, comments

    A History of God

    Karen Armstrong

    Why does God exist? How have the three dominant monotheistic religionsJudaism, Christianity, and Islamshaped and altered the conception of God? How have these religions influenced ...

  • El arte perdido de las Escrituras synopsis, comments

    El arte perdido de las Escrituras

    Karen Armstrong

    En nuestro mundo cada vez más secular, los textos sagrados se consideran, en el mejor de los casos, irrelevantes y, en el peor, una excusa para incitar a la violencia, el odio y la...

  • The Mystery of Edwin Drood synopsis, comments

    The Mystery of Edwin Drood

    Charles Dickens

    Charles Dickens's final, unfinished novel has inspired generations of speculation ...Choirmaster John Jasper is a man of deep hypocrisy. His public reputation is flawless yet priva...

  • Four Last Things synopsis, comments

    Four Last Things

    William Palmer

    "Do you know what the last four things are? In the Christian catechism they are Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. But in our secular age they should perhaps be changed. I suggest ...

  • Selected Writings synopsis, comments

    Selected Writings

    Thomas Aquinas

    In his reflections on Christianity, Saint Thomas Aquinas forged a unique synthesis of ancient philosophy and medieval theology. Preoccupied with the relationship between faith and ...

  • Speaking of Faith synopsis, comments

    Speaking of Faith

    Krista Tippett

    A thoughtprovoking, original appraisal of the meaning of religion by the host of public radio's On Being Krista Tippett, widely becoming known as the Bill Moyers of radio, is one o...

  • A History of God Summary synopsis, comments

    A History of God Summary

    Summary Life

    So much to read, so little time? This brief overview of A History of God tells you what you need to knowbefore or after you read Karen Armstrong’s book.   This short summary a...

  • In the Beginning synopsis, comments

    In the Beginning

    Karen Armstrong

    “Karen Armstrong is a genius.”A. N. WilsonAs the foundation stone of the Jewish and Christian scriptures, The Book of Genesis unfolds some of the most arresting stories of world li...

  • The Story of the Scrolls synopsis, comments

    The Story of the Scrolls

    Dr Geza Vermes

    The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in Qumran, Palestine, in 1947 was one of the greatest archaeological finds of all time. Written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, and hidden in ca...

  • Die Geschichte von Gott synopsis, comments

    Die Geschichte von Gott

    Karen Armstrong

    Wer oder wie ist Gott? Die britische Religionswissenschaftlerin zeichnet die faszinierende Entwicklungsgeschichte der GottesSuche von den mythologischen Anfängen bis heute nach. Da...

  • In God We Doubt synopsis, comments

    In God We Doubt

    John Humphrys

    'All the erudition and pithy wit you would expect from Humphrys, but there is also a charming, genuine enquiry that shines through' MAIL ON SUNDAY Bestselling author, radio pre...

  • The Letters of Abelard and Heloise synopsis, comments

    The Letters of Abelard and Heloise

    Peter Abelard & Betty Radice

    The story of Abelard and Heloise remains one of the world's most celebrated and tragic love affairs. Through their letters, we follow the path of their romance from its reckless a...

  • Naturaleza sagrada synopsis, comments

    Naturaleza sagrada

    Karen Armstrong

    Desde el principio de los tiempos la humanidad ha mirado a la naturaleza y ha visto lo divino. En los escritos de los grandes pensadores de todas las religiones, el mundo natural i...

  • Scars that Run Deep synopsis, comments

    Scars that Run Deep

    Patrick Touher

    Leaving his abusive Irish boarding school after eight long years, Patrick Touher thought his troubles were over. But the adult world was a dangerous place for a naïve adolescent. F...

  • Fields of Blood synopsis, comments

    Fields of Blood

    Karen Armstrong

    A sweeping exploration of religion and the history of human violencefrom the New York Times bestselling author of The History of God “Elegant and powerful.... Both erudite and acc...

  • Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life synopsis, comments

    Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life

    Karen Armstrong

    One of the most original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern worldand the bestselling author of such acclaimed books as A History of God, Islam, and Buddhanow gives us a...

  • The Lost Art of Scripture synopsis, comments

    The Lost Art of Scripture

    Karen Armstrong

    A book that shines fresh light on the world's major religions to help us build bridges between faiths and rediscover a creative and spiritual engagement with holy textsfrom the New...

  • The Spiral Staircase synopsis, comments

    The Spiral Staircase

    Karen Armstrong

    NATIONAL BESTSELLER The New York Times bestselling author of A History of God delivers the gripping, inspirational story about her own search for God.  “A story about be...

  • Jerusalem synopsis, comments

    Jerusalem

    Karen Armstrong

    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 ...

  • Las preguntas siguen synopsis, comments

    Las preguntas siguen

    Iñaki Gabilondo, Muhammad Yunus, Facundo Manes, Karen Armstrong, Adela Cortina Orts & Naomi Klein

    Las preguntas siguen recoge las conversaciones que el periodista Iñaki Gabilondo mantuvo con algunos de los pensadores más relevantes del momento (Naomi Klein, Karen Armstrong, Muh...

  • Losing Moses on the Freeway synopsis, comments

    Losing Moses on the Freeway

    Chris Hedges

    The 10 Commandments the laws given to Moses by God are beyond the scope of human law. They are rules meant to hold us together but, when dishonored, they lead to discord and viol...

  • Mahoma synopsis, comments

    Mahoma

    Karen Armstrong

    Un extraordinario alegato contra los prejuicios hacia una religión que practican mil doscientos millones de personas en todo el mundo.La figura de Mahoma (570632) ha suscitado siem...