Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Karen Armstrong --- Religion not the problem

One of the blogs that I try to read on a daily basis is Bruce Feiler's. Feiler is the author of: Walking the Bible, Abraham, Where God Was Born. All three of them are worth reading, I think that I have read Walking the Bible at least twice.

In his latest blog, Feiler is directing his readers to an interview of Karen Armstrong that was in Islamica Magazine. Karen Armstrong, former Catholic Nun, is the author of some of the most thought provoking books on the monotheistic religions ever written. A History of God, and Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths are wonderful books. Her autobiographical The Spiral Staircase is especially revealing. I would recommend them all, and I look forward to digging into her newest book The Bible: A Biography.

The interview of Karen Armstrong looks at the issues that separate Christianity/Judaism from Islam --- East from West. If you want some insights into the divide, this interview will be a great help.

At the same time it is very humbling, because she puts much of the blame for the rise of Islamic fundamentalism squarely on the shoulders of the west. (I personally think that she is right on in her assessment.)

If you would like to read Feiler's blog: http://blog.beliefnet.com/feilerfaster/
Or for the Armstrong interview: http://www.islamicamagazine.com/Issue-20/Divisions-in-our-world-are-not-the-result-of-religion.html

1 comment:

Tom Heneghan said...

If you’re interested in Karen Armstrong, you might want to look at her latest interview on Pakistan, Islam and secularism in the Reuters religion blog FaithWorld -- http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld.