A History of God

A History of God: The 4000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Karen Armstrong
Copyright: 1993
Gramercy Books

3 Bookmarks out of 5

This was another one of those books that ended up on my bookshelf because every year for Christmas my mom plays a little game when buying me presents called: 'Buy Every Book on the Bargain Shelf.' I'm not complaining - I love a good bargain book because I'm convinced that every book has some form of value and the joy of literacy should not be hogged by only those who can afford to read. Nevertheless, I finally got around to reading it in an effort to make sure my mind stays sharp. I was accepted into my grad program through University of Maryland in Library Science, and since I took a year off before grad school I want to make sure that my critical reading skills stay strong. This book was a good test of my patience and ability to understand minute differences in philosophy and theology. I went into this book expecting a history of God - what I came out with was a theological and philosophical understanding of how God has changed over time.

I should begin by saying that the reviews over the cover boast about how Armstrong has the ability to "simplify complex ideas" (New York Times Book Review) and how "she can take a long and complex subject and reduce it to its fundamentals" (Sunday Times - London). I expected a complex discussion of how to concept of God has changed throughout history. However, I found myself re-reading many passages of the book in order to grasp what was being explained. Normally I can read laying down without any interruption of understanding, but with this book I found myself needing to sit completely upright and in a completely silent place. This book is not intended for a reader who is beginning the study of theology. The long passages make finding a stopping point difficult and the long chapters make for an arduous struggle to understand the amount of information being written about.

The book could have been more understandable with more historical background of different time periods. Since the title boasts of a 'history' - I expected Armstrong to explain how events in history impacted the human understanding of God. In some places, Armstrong does this with amazing ability. However, in other parts she spends a long time explaining what different philosophers and thinkers came up with in regards to the theory of God and the reader can be lost in the semantic game that many early leaders of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam came up against. These painstaking details are what aids to the wealth of knowledge that is contained in the book and what becomes frustrating for the reader to comprehend.

Armstrong's Western bias comes in to play in the book. As a child of the West, it is hard for Armstrong to break her cultural heritage when examining religious history. In my opinion, Armstrong could have spent more time on the subject of Judaism and Islam after their initial conception and the mysticism phase. Once she hits the Age of Enlightenment in Europe, Armstrong spends nearly all her time explaining the development of God in a strictly Christian sense. I've read some other reviews and I would agree with the fact that Armstrong does seem a bit harsh on Christianity. It's a shame that the book was written before the rise of religious fundamentalism in world politics. Additional printings of this book would benefit from an afterword with Armstrong explaining how the concept of God is continuing to evolve.

All in all, I A History of God is a book that is bountiful in information. The reader should be warned that some background of each religion will make this read go by much easier than by choosing this as their first book of religious study. I found myself struggling to keep different names right when Armstrong discussed the chronology of different thinkers. The book loses points, in my opinion, from its lack of user-friendliness. While the concepts labeled under each chapter make sense, the editor of the book could have made use of page breaks for readers to take a breather while traveling through 4,000 years of history. Armstrong could have been more inclusive of other Godly religions - but the book only focuses on the Abrahamic faiths and maybe the title could have reflected more of that as well.

Unsolved Mysteries of History

Unsolved Mysteries of History: An Eye-Opening Investigation Into the Most Baffling Events of All Time
By: Paul Aron
Copyright: 2000
Barnes & Noble

2 Bookmarks out of 5

I got this book quite a number of years ago for Christmas. It was probably around four years ago because that was about the time when I realized that I wanted my own personal library and I wanted to do nothing but read all the time. Anyway, my point is that this book was already sort of outdated when I received it in 2008, since it was written in 2000. If I had to guess, my mom probably saw it in the bargain section of Barnes and Noble and decided that I would like it. Based on the title, I even thought that I would like it. However, I was deeply disappointed with this book.

To begin with, some of the essay titles had nothing to do with what was actually written in the essay. To give you an example, there is one essay titled "Who Built the Statues on Easter Island." This seemed like it would be the best essay because the Easter Island statues are on the front cover of the book. However, this essay was mainly arguing who settled Easter Island - South American Indians or Polynesians. It made some rather interesting points but in the end there was no answer to the question of the statues besides, 'the people on Easter Island built them.' Well, obviously they were built by people on the island, unless it was those darn aliens again.

Speaking of aliens, not all of the essays were terribly written. One of the better essays was the one titled, "What Were the Nazca Lines". For those of you who are unfamilar with the Nazca lines, these are the lines in South America that look like various animals and geometric shapes from the air. Some groups claim that they are landing sites for alien ships. Aron did a great job with this essay exploring the various reasons why ancient civilizations would have gone through so much trouble to draw such intricate shapes on the ground when they could only be visible from the air. Some of those conclusions include irrigation purposes as well as religious purposes. In the end, even though there is no definite solution, Aron points out the possibilities and that is enough conclusion for the reader.

Most of the essays, though, were just entirely too short to give a proper investigation to the topic in question. This book is more like twenty-five wikipedia articles than any in-depth investigation. Each essay ranges from 5-10 pages in length and feels more like an essay I would have written in undergrad than an essay that should have begun solving the mysteries at hand. This probably comes from the fact that Paul Aron is not a historian himself - he is a reporter and an editor. I'm not saying that this doesn't mean someone can't inform himself/herself about a topic by reading a few books - but reading a few books doesn't make you an expert in a topic. That's what I think was missing from this particular book - an insight that only an expert can give to you.

In the end, I really think that Barnes and Noble should have passed up this particular book idea from Paul Aron. Barnes and Noble should probably stick with what they do best - which is eat up the entire modern book market and leave small, used bookstores few and far between. While there are a few redeeming essays, this book is better used just like wikipedia - look at the books Aron used to write his essay and use those books to do your own analysis. There are other ways to learn more about the unsolved mysteries of history besides reading this book. And if you are doing research on any of these topics, your history teacher would be appalled at your use of this as a reference.