Karen Armstrong is one of the best known and most popular
writers on religion today. She has authored twelve books,
including the best-seller A History of God, and created
a six-part documentary television series in England on the life
of Saint Paul. At age seventeen she took vows of chastity and
poverty, and entered the Roman Catholic order of the Society of
the Holy Child Jesus. Seven years later she left the convent and
in 1982 published her first book, Through the Narrow
Gate, which chronicles her life as a nun. Shortly
thereafter she published a second autobiographical book about
the religious life, Beginning the World.
Ms. Armstrong studied at Oxford University, where she read
literature and wrote a doctoral thesis that was subsequently
rejected by an external examiner and which prompted her
departure from academia. She took a position teaching English at
a girls' school for several years, and is presently teaching
Christianity at London's Leo Baeck College for the Study of
Judaism.
Armstrong's achievements as an independent scholar focusing
on the three great monotheistic religions, Christianity,
Judaism, and Islam, have earned her a reputation as a major
contributor to interfaith understanding and respect. Her books
on Islam and Muhammed have given many Westerners their first
clear and unbiased insight into the history and teachings of
this great tradition and its prophet. With the recent
publication of a biography of Buddha, she is extending her reach
into the East and offering readers another accessible, if
unconventional, account of one of the most influential religious
teachers of all time.
Ms. Armstrong writes regularly for The Guardian and
is at work on her thirteenth book about religion in the axial
age.
selected books
Through the Narrow Gate
St. Martin's Griffin (2005) (original publication 1981)
Buy at Amazon
A Short History of MythCanongate U.S. (2005)
Buy at AmazonBuddhaPenguin Books (2004) (original publication 2000)
Buy at AmazonThe Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of DarknessKnopf (2004)
Buy at AmazonIslam, a Short HistoryModern Library (2002) (original publication 2000)
Buy at AmazonHoly War: the Crusades and Their Impact on Today's WorldAnchor (2001) (original publication 1988)
Buy at AmazonThe Battle for GodKnopf (2000)
Buy at AmazonIn the Beginning: A New Interpretation of GenesisKnopf (1996)
Buy at AmazonJerusalem: One City, Three FaithsA. A. Knopf (1996)
Buy at AmazonA History of God: The 4000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and IslamBallantine Books (1994) (original publication 1993)
Buy at AmazonMuhammad: a Biography of the ProphetHarperSanFrancisco (1993) (original publication 1992)
Buy at AmazonThe Gospel According to WomanAnchor (1991) (original publication 1986)
Buy at AmazonBeginning the WorldSt. Martin's Press (1983)
Buy at Amazon
selected articles
Interview about Islam, a Short History
http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/karmstrong.html
Religion and Ethics Newsweekly interviewhttp://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week602/armstrong.html
selected video, audio, dvd
Life of Buddha
Audio interview from The Smithsonian Associates
http://smithsonianassociates.org/programs/Armstrong/armstrong.asp