In a book club and starting to plan your reads for next year? Check out our 2025 picks.

What readers think of The Battle For God, plus links to write your own review.

Summary |  Excerpt |  Reading Guide |  Reviews |  Read-Alikes |  Genres & Themes |  Author Bio

The Battle For God by Karen Armstrong

The Battle For God

by Karen Armstrong
  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • First Published:
  • Mar 1, 2000, 448 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Jan 2001, 448 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About This Book

Reviews

Page 1 of 1
There are currently 3 reader reviews for The Battle For God
Order Reviews by:

Write your own review!

rachel

Armstrong brilliantly documents the rise of fundamentalism in Christianity, Islam, and Judiasm with clear and objective prose. I had fallen for the widely-held belief that fundamentalism was a throw-back to earlier belief systems. She refutes this concept and explains how fundamentalism is a direct response to modernity; at each stage of historical progression there is another backlash/response when fundamentalist ideology is fed by a fear of the unknown. Impressively researched, but above all, an easy lucid read.
John W

A key issue left unaddressed
Ms. Armstrong provides her usual sweeping and in-depth analysis of such issues but seems, curiously, to have slid by a key concern. She summarizes the conflict between "fundamental" and "modern" as a battle between what she calls "mythos" (broadly, tradition) and "logos" (modern, rational thinking). But the key issue is that mythos is anchored in ways of life--subjugation of women, slavery etc--that have nothing to do with religion but are related to the (invariably male-dominated) traditions of the time. Yes, perhaps the modernist moves away from religion are a fright to those who are passionate about their faith, but fundamentalism has battle on its hands entirely of its own making because it has failed to adjust its "religion" to be compatible with modern society.
Ethan "Strange"

Karen Armstrong's work is brilliant. In this work, she avoids many biased statements that would have been tempting for anyone with any beliefs at all. After some consideration, I found that most of the areas in which I felt she strayed from the objective facts we areas in which I had personal beliefs of my own interfering with a clear analysis of the work.

It is a good explanation, and influenced very little by anything but historical fact.

Two major sections: the first describes religious background based on historical, well-documented facts. The second describes in detail what fundamentalists have done and why.

The one factor that kept this book from a "5", was the underlying thought that i was "reading it for school," and now I have to write an 8 page report on it... otherwise, i would've loved it, and I think you will too if you care at all about such issues.
  • Page
  • 1

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket
    Something, Not Nothing
    by Sarah Leavitt
    In 2020, after a lifetime of struggling with increasingly ill health, Sarah Leavitt's partner, ...
  • Book Jacket
    A Haunting in Hialeah Gardens
    by Raul Palma
    Raul Palma's debut novel A Haunting in Hialeah Gardens introduces Hugo Contreras, who came to the ...
  • Book Jacket
    The MANIAC
    by Benjamin Labatut
    The MANIAC by Benjamin Labatut is an ambitious work that falls squarely into the category of fiction...
  • Book Jacket: Blood Test
    Blood Test
    by Charles Baxter
    Brock Hobson is a loving single father, a Sunday School teacher, and an upstanding and honest ...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Libby Lost and Found
    by Stephanie Booth

    Libby Lost and Found is a book for people who don't know who they are without the books they love.

Who Said...

It is among the commonplaces of education that we often first cut off the living root and then try to replace its ...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

H I O the G

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.