The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions

Karen Armstrong

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Mar 28, 2006 - Religion - 469 pages

From Karen Armstrong, the bestselling author of A History of God and The Spiral Staircase, comes this extraordinary investigation of a critical moment in the evolution of religious thought.In the ninth century BCE, events in four regions of the civilized world led to the rise of religious traditions that have endured to the present day--the development of Confucianism and Daoism in China, Hinduism and Buddhism in India, monotheism in Israel, and philosophical rationalism in Greece. Armstrong, one of our most prominent religious scholars, examines how these traditions began in response to the violence of their time. Studying figures as diverse as the Buddha and Socrates, Confucius and Jeremiah, Armstrong reveals how these still enduring philosophies can help address our contemporary problems.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

What people are saying

Review: The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions

User Review  - Bonnie - Goodreads

Fascinating and readable account of the moment in time when most of the world's monotheistic religions began. My knowledge bank here is unimpressive, and I take her explanations at face value. Yes ...

Review: The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions

User Review  - Sigit Rais - Goodreads

After read this book, I can see another dimension and chromatic point of view about religiosity. From the begining of life, humans was tries to find the answers of the questions about this universe ...

About the author

KAREN ARMSTRONG is the author of numerous other books on religious affairs, including A History of God, The Battle for God, Holy War, Islam, and Buddha. Her work has been translated into forty languages, and she is the author of three television documentaries. Since September 11, 2001, she has been a frequent contributor to conferences, panels, newspapers, periodicals, and other media on both sides of the Atlantic on the subject of Islam. She lives in London.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions
• Author: Karen Armstrong
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2006
• ISBN: 030726470X, 9780307264701
• Length: 469 pages
• Subjects: History / World; Religion / Comparative Religion; Religion / History