Fields of blood: religion and the history of violence - Softcover

9781847921871: Fields of blood: religion and the history of violence
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 
Countering the atheist claim that believers are by default violent fanatics and religion is the cause of all major wars, karen armstrong demonstrates that religious faith is not inherently violent in fact, the worlds major religions have throughout their history displayed ambivalent attitudes towards aggression and warfare at times they have allied themselves with states and empires for protection or to further their influence; at others they have tried to curb state oppression and aggression and worked for peace and justice taking us on a journey from prehistoric times to the present, karen armstrong contrasts medieval crusaders and modern-day jihadists with the pacifism of the buddha and jesus vision of a just and peaceful society; moreover, she demonstrates that the underlying reasons - social, economic, political - for war and violence in our history often had very little to do with religion while human beings have a natural propensity for aggression, collective violence and warfare emerged at a certain point in history when the invention of agriculture created a society and a state based on the accumulation of wealth for most of history our destructive potential could be contained but with the industrialised warfare and all-powerful state of the modern age, humanity is on the brink of destroying itself vast in scope, impeccably researched and passionately argued, fields of blood is more than a corrective to the prevailing view that religion is to blame for most of the bloodshed throughout human history: it is a celebration of those religious ideas and movements that have opposed war and aggression and promoted peace and reconciliation

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

An Amazon Best Book of the Month, November 2014: Does religion lead to violence? This is the question that Karen Armstrong, the erudite former nun, asks in Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence. Her answer is “no”—or more specifically, that religion is not itself a source of violence and the problem lies more deeply in “our human nature and the nature of the state.” To prove her point, she covers roughly five thousand years of religious history, from Gilgamesh to the present day. Along the way, she builds the case against those who state, often without much context, that “religion has been the cause of all the major wars in history.” This is both an apologia and a wide-ranging and very readable lesson in the history of religion. It may not completely change the mind of everyone who reads it; but like everything Armstrong writes, it will leave them more enriched. –Chris Schluep

About the Author:

Karen Armstrong is the author of numerous books on religion, including The Case for God, A History of God, The Battle for God, Holy War, Islam, Buddha, and The Great Transformation, as well as a memoir, The Spiral Staircase. Her work has been translated into forty-five languages. In 2008 she was awarded the TED Prize and began working with TED on the Charter for Compassion, created online by the general public, crafted by leading thinkers in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. It was launched globally in the fall of 2009. Also in 2008, she was awarded the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Medal. In 2013, she received the British Academy’s inaugural Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize for Transcultural Understanding.  

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

  • PublisherBodley Head
  • Publication date2014
  • ISBN 10 1847921876
  • ISBN 13 9781847921871
  • BindingPaperback
  • Number of pages352
  • Rating
Buy Used
Condition: Very Good
The book has been read, but is... Learn more about this copy

Shipping: US$ 6.06
From United Kingdom to U.S.A.

Destination, rates & speeds

Add to Basket

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780307946966: Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780307946966
Publisher: Anchor, 2015
Softcover

  • 9780307957047: Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence

    Knopf, 2014
    Hardcover

  • 9780099564980: Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence

    VINTAGE, 2015
    Softcover

  • 9781847921864: Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence

    Bodley..., 1600
    Hardcover

  • 9781410474124: Fields Of Blood (Thorndike Press Large Print Nonfiction)

    Thornd..., 2014
    Hardcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

Armstrong, Karen
Published by Bodley Head (2014)
ISBN 10: 1847921876 ISBN 13: 9781847921871
Used Paperback Quantity: 3
Seller:
WorldofBooks
(Goring-By-Sea, WS, United Kingdom)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: Very Good. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR006723037

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy Used
US$ 2.89
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 6.06
From United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Armstrong, Karen
ISBN 10: 1847921876 ISBN 13: 9781847921871
Used Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Better World Books: West
(Reno, NV, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: Very Good. Used book that is in excellent condition. May show signs of wear or have minor defects. Seller Inventory # 40713560-75

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy Used
US$ 8.97
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Armstrong, Karen
Published by Bodley Head (2014)
ISBN 10: 1847921876 ISBN 13: 9781847921871
Used Softcover Quantity: 2
Seller:
medimops
(Berlin, Germany)

Book Description Gut/Very good: Buch bzw. Schutzumschlag mit wenigen Gebrauchsspuren an Einband, Schutzumschlag oder Seiten. / Describes a book or dust jacket that does show some signs of wear on either the binding, dust jacket or pages. Seller Inventory # M01847921876-V

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy Used
US$ 5.01
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 9.71
From Germany to U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Armstrong, Karen
ISBN 10: 1847921876 ISBN 13: 9781847921871
Used Softcover Quantity: 2
Seller:
Better World Books Ltd
(Dunfermline, United Kingdom)

Book Description Condition: Good. Ships from the UK. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages. Seller Inventory # 19109928-20

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy Used
US$ 5.70
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 10.10
From United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Seller Image

ARMSTRONG, Karen
Published by Bodley Head (2014)
ISBN 10: 1847921876 ISBN 13: 9781847921871
Used Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Cotswold Internet Books
(Cheltenham, United Kingdom)

Book Description Condition: Used - Very Good. VG paperback. 1st edition. A very nice tidy copy. Seller Inventory # BOOKS238194I

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy Used
US$ 8.07
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 16.41
From United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Seller Image

Armstrong, Karen
Published by Bodley Head, London 2014 (2014)
ISBN 10: 1847921876 ISBN 13: 9781847921871
Used Softcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
Dial-A-Book
(NARRABEEN, NSW, Australia)

Book Description 8vo. softcover. 499pp. index. Very good, foxing to edges. Seller Inventory # 66157

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy Used
US$ 9.02
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 27.00
From Australia to U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Karen Armstrong
Published by The Bodley Head, (2014)
ISBN 10: 1847921876 ISBN 13: 9781847921871
Used Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
Book Haven
(Wellington, WLG, New Zealand)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: Very good. Karen Armstrong examines the impulse toward violence in each of the world's great religions. The comparative approach is new: while there have been plenty of books on jihad or the Crusades, for example this one lays the Christian and the Islamic way of war side by side, along with those of Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Daoism, and Judaism. Each of these faiths arose in an agrarian society with plenty of motivation for violence: landowners had to lord it over peasants, and warfare was essential to increase one's landholdings, the only real source of wealth before the great age of trade and commerce. In each context, it fell to the priestly class to legitimate the actions of the state. And so the martial ethos became bound up with the sacred. At the same time, however, the faiths developed ideologies that ran counter to the warrior code: around sages, prophets, and mystics within each tradition there grew up communities that represented a protest against the injustice and violence endemic to agrarian society. This book explores the symbiosis of these two impulses and its development as these confessional faiths came of age. Seller Inventory # 1416910

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy Used
US$ 10.77
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 27.00
From New Zealand to U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Seller Image

Armstrong, Karen:
Published by London : The Bodley Head (2014)
ISBN 10: 1847921876 ISBN 13: 9781847921871
Used 23 cm , Softcover / Paperback, Quantity: 1
Seller:
Antiquariat Peda
(Landsberg, Hohenthurm, SA, Germany)

Book Description 23 cm , Softcover / Paperback, Condition: Gut. 499 Seiten, Zustand: Exemplar in gutem Zustand, Ränder und / oder Cover etwas berieben. Text / Sprache: Englisch , Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 441-483 und Index , Countering the atheist claim that believers are by default violent fanatics and religion is the cause of all major wars, this book demonstrates that religious faith is not inherently violent. In fact, the world's major religions have throughout their history displayed ambivalent attitudes towards aggression and warfare. At times they have allied themselves with states and empires for protection or to further their influence; at others they have tried to curb state oppression and aggression and worked for peace and justice. Taking us on a journey from prehistoric times to the present, this book contrasts medieval crusaders and modern-day jihadists with the pacifism of the Buddha and Jesus' vision of a just and peaceful society; moreover, it demonstrates that the underlying reasons - social, economic, political - for war and violence in our history often had very little to do with religion. While human beings have a natural propensity for aggression, collective violence and warfare emerged at a certain point in history when the invention of agriculture created a society and a state based on the accumulation of wealth. For most of history our destructive potential could be contained but with the industrialised warfare and all-powerful state of the modern age, humanity is on the brink of destroying itself. Vast in scope, impeccably researched and passionately argued, this book is more than a corrective to the prevailing view that religion is to blame for most of the bloodshed throughout human history: it is a celebration of those religious ideas and movements that have opposed war and aggression and promoted peace and reconciliation 10291 ISBN 9781847921871 Sprache: Englisch Gewicht in Gramm: 800. Seller Inventory # 47395

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy Used
US$ 18.87
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 20.45
From Germany to U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Karen Armstrong
Published by The Bodley Head (2014)
ISBN 10: 1847921876 ISBN 13: 9781847921871
Used Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
Barclay Books
(York, WA, Australia)

Book Description Paperback. 1014. Countering the atheist claim that believers are by default violent fanatics and religion is the cause of all major wars, Karen Armstrong demonstrates that religious faith is not inherently violent. In fact, the world's major religions have throughout their history displayed ambivalent attitudes towards aggression and warfare. At times they have allied themselves with states and empires for protection or to further their influence; at others they have tried to curb state oppression and aggression and worked for peace and justice. Taking us on a journey from prehistoric times to the present, Karen Armstrong contrasts medieval crusaders and modern-day jihadists with the pacifism of the Buddha and Jesus' vision of a just and peaceful society; moreover, she demonstrates that the underlying reasons - social, economic, political - for war and violence in our history often had very little to do with religion. While human beings have a natural propensity for aggression, collective violence and warfare emerged at a certain point in history when the invention of agriculture created a society and a state based on the accumulation of wealth. For most of history our destructive potential could be contained but with the industrialised warfare and all-powerful state of the modern age, humanity is on the brink of destroying itself. Vast in scope, impeccably researched and passionately argued, Fields of Blood is more than a corrective to the prevailing view that religion is to blame for most of the bloodshed throughout human history: it is a celebration of those religious ideas and movements that have opposed war and aggression and promoted peace and reconciliation. 2014. A trade paperback copy in fine, unmarked and unread condition. Seller Inventory # 23297274

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy Used
US$ 20.13
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 28.50
From Australia to U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Seller Image

Armstrong, Karen
Published by The Bodley Head, London (2014)
ISBN 10: 1847921876 ISBN 13: 9781847921871
Used Paperback First Edition Quantity: 1
Seller:
M. & A. Simper Bookbinders & Booksellers
(WARRNAMBOOL, VIC, Australia)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: Near Fine. First Edition. A very good copy. ; 235 x 155mm; x, 499 pages. Seller Inventory # 24672

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy Used
US$ 13.42
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 36.00
From Australia to U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds