Fields Of Blood: Religion And The History Of Violence

Author: Karen Armstrong

Stock information

General Fields

  • : $35.00 AUD
  • : 9781847921871
  • : The Bodley Head
  • : The Bodley Head
  • :
  • : 0.748
  • : June 2014
  • : 234mm X 153mm
  • : United Kingdom
  • : 35.0
  • : October 2014
  • : January 2022
  • :
  • : books

Special Fields

  • :
  • :
  • : Karen Armstrong
  • :
  • : Paperback
  • : 1014
  • :
  • : en
  • : 200.9
  • :
  • :
  • : 352
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
  • :
Barcode 9781847921871
9781847921871

Description

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.

Promotion info

A topical investigation of the relationship between religion and violence - and a powerful case against the widespread belief that religion is the root of all evil.

Author description

Karen Armstrong is one of the world's leading commentators on religious affairs. She spent seven years as a Roman Catholic nun in the 1960s, but then left her teaching order in 1969 to read English at Oxford. In 1982 she became a full-time writer and broadcaster. The best-selling author of over sixteen books, she is a passionate campaigner for religious liberty.