The Case for God

I'm an agnostic and I think this is a very important book. It provides a view into how the three major monotheisms were seen by their own practitioners over the ages and contrast those views with the modern view of God. It's a criticism of modern religious practice but it opened my eyes to the value that religion could and should provide were it approached in a less simplistic manner. This book is not meant to convert anyone, its very much an social/historical look at God. I find it a much more valuable view than the combative positions of the New Atheists.

I'm just finishing my second listen and enjoying it as much as the first. It is a dense book and presents thousands of years of human religious history in detail. Despite the tremendous amount of information Karen Armstrong packs into this book, the overall themes are easy to follow.

I particularly appreciated that she chose to write a book focusing on unknowing and the elements of religious and spiritual practice that take one beyond language itself. If you want a general overview of religious history, you might choose her History of God or The Great Transformation. However, if you want an in-depth look at 2000 years of faith and the interplay of human practitioners and ineffable religious experience in Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Buddhism, this is the book.

This is so convincing and so well done. I rarely take in a book this deeply and earnestly. I could not find a single place to really argue or gripe. This is a timeless work that deserves your time at least once through. The conclusions are profound and have shaken for the better my faith based view of the world. She almost apologized that she ended with Derrida and I appreciated her doing so, but she should have clearly ended with Zizek.
The Fat Free Atheist Chocolate Ice Cream Cookie Bar. It would have been the perfect cherry on top of her perfect point.

Just the best. so much information, you'll have to listern many times if you want to talk about this subject.

Easy enough for the layperson yet profound and comprehensive.

Good pace and emphases seem to be in the right place.

No.

I enjoy Karen Armstrong's work and have read several of her books in print form. This however has been a tough slog. I think it's the narration. The author reads the book, and I can't pinpoint what it is that I don't enjoy but I find myself reaching for the pause button soon after I start to listen.

Yes, I have read Mohammed - A prophet for our time and Buddha and found them highly readable and fascinating.

I couldn't follow this for the life of me. I guess she's making the point that we can only know the divine through Zen Buddhist or yogic type mystical and often severe practices. That point has been made by other 20th century writers in a more accessible manner. This is really a book meant to be read, not listened to in Audible format.

Karen Armstrong is an good reader, but after a while it gets to be like listening to a tape of a Religious Studies class . I've never listened to her other titles, but have read two of them.

Who did she write this for? What is her intended audience? I'm a relatively educated and well read man, but found myself dozing off. And the Audible format serves her poorly. You need a glossary to understand what she is saying - she is using Greek and Latin terms to express various religious states and relationships. What the heck do they mean?
The first time she uses a Greek term, she parenthetically mentions its meaning but after that she doesn't and there are so many it gets confusing.

Sorry I used up my credit.