58 pages • 1 hour read
Karen ArmstrongA History of God: The 4000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1993A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Authorial Context: Karen Armstrong and Mysticism
Karen Armstrong’s background as a former nun turned scholar of comparative religion gives her a unique lens through which she examines the concept of God. Her personal spiritual journey, marked by both faith and skepticism, infuses her academic analysis. Armstrong’s experiences within the Catholic Church inform her portrayal of believers’ emotional and sometimes volatile relationship with their understanding of God. The religiosity of her youth, followed by questioning and an eventual exit from the convent, shapes her personal narrative and influences her examination of the Western tradition’s fraught relationship with the divine.
While her approach has garnered acclaim, some have criticized her emphasis on the more mystical aspects of religious experience, arguing that she oversimplifies complex theological concepts or undermines traditional religious doctrines. The drive to seek unity among religious concepts makes her writing sometimes prone to generalizations, for example, “[I]t is not difficult to see that this bhakti (devotion) to the Buddhas and the bodhisattvas was similar to the Christian devotion to Jesus. It also made the faith accessible to more people, rather as Paul had wished to make Judaism available to the goyim” (137). By equating the practice and belief of devotion across various traditions, she can occasionally neglect the nuances of theological difference.
Armstrong’s mystic inclinations also place emphasis on experiential and personal understandings of the divine, in contrast to more dogmatic or scholastic interpretations. Armstrong argues that mysticism is ultimately a misunderstood religious modality due to Western biases: “Since the West has never been very enthusiastic about mysticism, even during its heyday in other parts of the world, there is little understanding of the intelligence and discipline that are essential to this type of spirituality” (309). Her own perspective, transparently aligned with mystical understandings, underscores the inherent challenge in religious studies: No observer can be entirely detached and objective.
Beyond her mystic inclinations, her engagement with studies in mythology reveals her broad understanding of religion as more than just dogma. For her, it is a multifaceted human endeavor, a story of how humans relate to the unknowable. The mention of Joseph Campbell in the introduction to A History of God bridges ancient mythological narratives with modern spiritual quests, emphasizing religion’s role as a continuous, evolving dialogue between humanity and the transcendent. Additionally, Armstrong adopts a feminist approach to the often-gendered language of God. This is emblematic of her broader approach to religious studies, which strives to be inclusive and sensitive. It positions her not just as a historian of religion but also as a critic and reformist, encouraging a more inclusive and progressive understanding of religious traditions.
Intellectual Context: Historicism
A History of God examines the development of religious beliefs within specific historical trends and events. This methodology, known as historicism, posits that any cultural or intellectual phenomenon is best understood within its specific historical context.
Historicism operates on the principle that ideas and cultural expressions are products of their time. Every event, belief, or cultural piece is a reflection of its era, influenced by the interplay of societal forces, ideas, and occurrences. For example, in literature, a historicist scholar would consider the social, political, and/or cultural contexts that may have shaped a novel or poem. In religious studies, historicism suggests that religious beliefs and practices are not static or timeless, but instead evolve in tandem with the socio-political and cultural shifts of their epochs. Armstrong’s work exemplifies this, framing religious perceptions as products of their times rather than as constant, unchanging beliefs.
Historicism’s heavy focus on historical context can eclipse the perceived universal value of cultural products, potentially sidelining a work’s broader themes or its artistic/aesthetic achievements. It is sometimes criticized as being too deterministic, as its interpretation of cultural outputs as products of their era can neglect individual creativity or broader influences. Additionally, since it is impossible to capture all of the nuances of any historical era, analysis is still inescapably selective. Historicism also reflects Western paradigms, sometimes treating religious accounts as mere socio-political constructs and inadvertently pushing aside spiritual claims, or casting contemporary perceptions onto older contexts. Moreover, it risks overshadowing non-Western traditions and belief systems with Western academic standards, which can become a form of cultural imperialism.
Armstrong, though employing a historicist lens, does not negate the spiritual dimension of religious beliefs; instead, she attempts to provide a more nuanced understanding by situating them within their historical contexts. She sets her intent clearly at the outset: “[T]his book will not be a history of the ineffable reality of God itself, which is beyond time and change, but a history of the way men and women have perceived him from Abraham to the present day” (19, emphasis added). This approach serves as a reminder that histories, including religious and scholarly ones, are stories crafted by humans, influenced by their specific circumstances, biases, and shifting cultural contexts.
