Fields of Blood

Starred review from September 8, 2014
Bracing as ever, Armstrong (The Case for God) sweeps through religious history around the globe and over 4,000 years to explain the yoking of religion and violence and to elucidate the ways in which religion has also been used to counter violence. She goes back to the beginnings of human social organization and into the human brain itself to explain the origins of social structural violence as humans moved from egalitarian hunter-gatherer societies into more socially stratified agrarian cultures that produced enough surplus to fight over, and violent myths that justified conflict. From there she reads sacred texts of numerous cultures to find their contradictions: they portray and justify but they also strive to check it. Ahimsa (nonviolence) is an ancient Indian concept; Israel’s prophets thundered against its kings; Christianity turned its other cheek but also mounted Crusades. She relates—at length—contemporary terrorism to politics and regional histories: “As an inspiration for terrorism... nationalism has been far more productive than religion.” The comparative nature of her inquiry is refreshing, and it’s supported by 80 pages of footnotes and bibliography. Provocative and supremely readable. Announced first printing of 150,000.

Starred review from September 1, 2014
Comparative religions expert Armstrong (Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life, 2010, etc.) provides a comprehensive and erudite study of the history of violence in relation to religion. The author's global perspective is epic in scale and begins with the very dawn of human history. She begins the book by asserting, "[m]odern society has made a scapegoat of faith," and she ends by noting that the "problem lies not in the multifaceted activity that we call 'religion' but in the violence embedded in our human nature and the nature of the state." Armstrong also takes pains to explain that religion, as it is defined and discussed in modern society, is a construct of Protestant-influenced, Western culture and would not be understood by most cultures through time. Instead of a personal choice, religion has long been an ingrained aspect of most cultures, subject to the needs of societal survival along with every other aspect of a culture. Armstrong sees agrarian society as the source of most violence through history, in which a ruling minority controlled an agrarian majority by force while also attempting to expand territory. Religion served as a way of comprehending and handling the violence inherent in such societies. The rise of secularism-which, as the French Revolution handily proved, could be quite violent in its own right-created a void in which religion, and especially fundamentalism, could arise in a juxtaposing, visible role. This new role for religion has brought about the "religious violence" of modernity, whether it was Jonestown's "revolutionary suicide" or the spread of Islamic fanaticism. Armstrong leads readers patiently through history, from Mesopotamia to ancient India to the Palestine of Jesus to the China of Confucius. As always, her writing is clear and descriptive, her approach balanced and scholarly. An intriguing read, useful resource and definitive voice in defense of the divine in human culture.

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Starred review from September 1, 2014
The relationship of religion and violence arose, Armstrong relates, as nomadic hunter-gatherers settled into agrarian communities that developed a system in which protectors kept peons at work, especially to produce more than the community neededwealth that the protectors controlled with the same violence exerted against alien thieves. The religion of nomads was adapted to apologize for this master-and-subject structure of agrarian society, thereby inextricably entwining religion and politics. Eventually, though, in each major religion, a reaction set in, reaffirming the egalitarianism of hunter-gatherer society through mutual pacific love. The first part of thischaracteristically for Armstrongsweeping history traces that development and that reaction in Mesopotamia, India, China, and among the Hebrews. Reaction continues as the theme of the second part, examining the challenges of Jesus and Muhammad to the systemic violence of empires and the ethical crippling of Christianity and Islam as they were incorporated into empires. The third part, covering modernity, reports the conceptual separation of religion from the state, the emergence of secularism, and the battles seemingly between religion and secularity in our own time, in which secular movements have proved as violent as religious ones, and religion is often only opportunistically claimed to inspire a violent political movement, for instance, al-Qaeda. Armstrong again impresses with the breadth of her knowledge and the skill with which she conveys it to us. High Demand Backstory: A book from this recognized biblical authority always commands attention and creates library demand.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

Starred review from September 15, 2014

Believing that it is far too easy to make religion a scapegoat rather than trying to see what is really going on in the world, Armstrong (independent writer; The Case for God) offers a well-written historical summary of what have traditionally been viewed as "religious" wars, showing convincingly that in pretty much all cases it was not so much religion as it was political issues that fueled the conflict. Hers is a scholarly rejoinder to such books as Christopher Hitchens's God Is Not Great, which blames most of the world's ills on religion. Addressing both Eastern and Western religions, Armstrong argues that fundamentalism is not in itself a violent phenomenon, and that the aims of secular societies have led to more wars than has the promotion of religion. The book is particularly timely, given the number of conflicts in the world today that are viewed as religious-based. VERDICT Prolific religious writer Armstrong offers a well-written treatment of the perceived connection between religion and violence that will appeal to the serious layperson seeking to understand the role of religion in the development of society.--Augustine J. Curley, Newark Abbey, NJ

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2014

A best-selling author of insightful books on religion and a 2008 TED prize winner, Armstrong here goes beyond jihad or the Crusades to offer (uniquely) a comparative study of violence in religion. She starts by explaining that all faiths arose in agrarian societies, in which keeping or expanding one's land (and keeping those who worked it in their place) was the only way to assure wealth. At the same time, an impulse toward justice arose, challenging this inherently violent setup. These matching strands were wound tightly together as religious practice developed, but what does that mean in the world today?

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2014

Believing that it is far too easy to make religion a scapegoat rather than trying to see what is really going on in the world, Armstrong (independent writer; The Case for God) offers a well-written historical summary of what have traditionally been viewed as "religious" wars, showing convincingly that in pretty much all cases it was not so much religion as it was political issues that fueled the conflict. Hers is a scholarly rejoinder to such books as Christopher Hitchens's God Is Not Great, which blames most of the world's ills on religion. Addressing both Eastern and Western religions, Armstrong argues that fundamentalism is not in itself a violent phenomenon, and that the aims of secular societies have led to more wars than has the promotion of religion. The book is particularly timely, given the number of conflicts in the world today that are viewed as religious-based. VERDICT Prolific religious writer Armstrong offers a well-written treatment of the perceived connection between religion and violence that will appeal to the serious layperson seeking to understand the role of religion in the development of society.--Augustine J. Curley, Newark Abbey, NJ

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.