Friday, February 27, 2009

The Origins of Religion (PRI)

A study of the origins of the world's great religions reveals surprising ideas about God and how we define religion.

A study of the origins of the world's great religions reveals surprising ideas about God and how we define religion.

The following is a partial transcript; listen to audio for full story.

Karen Armstrong is the author of nearly 20 books on religion. When her breakthrough book, "A History of God" appeared in 1993, she quickly became one of the world's leading historians of spiritual matters. Her work displays a wide-ranging knowledge of religious traditions -- from monotheistic religions to Buddhism. That expertise is on full display in her latest book, "The Great Transformation," which charts the origins of many of the world's religions, including Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism. What's remarkable is that all these spiritual traditions emerged in the same historical era -- the "Axial Age" -- from 900 to 200 B.C. More>>

No comments: