In the Beginning: A New Interpretation of Genesis

by Karen Armstrong

Overview

“Karen Armstrong is a genius.”—A. N. Wilson

As the foundation stone of the Jewish and Christian scriptures, The Book of Genesis unfolds some of the most arresting stories of world literature—the Creation; Adam and Eve; Cain and Abel; the sacrifice of Isaac. Yet the meaning of Genesis remains enigmatic. In this fascinating volume, Karen Armstrong, author of the highly acclaimed bestseller A History of God, brilliantly illuminates the mysteries and profundities of this mystifying work.

“A lyrical chronicle of one woman's wrestling with Genesis that can serve as a guide to others . . . As notable for its scholarship as it is for its honesty and vulnerability.”—Publishers Weekly

“Armstrong can simplify complex ideas, but she is never simplistic.”—The New York Times Book Review

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780345406040
Publisher:	Random House Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/07/1997
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	1,165,374
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.45(d)

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 Fields of Blood, as well as a memoir, The Spiral Staircase. Her work has been translated into 45 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.

Read an Excerpt

Wrestling with God and Scripture
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "In the Beginning"
by .
Copyright © 1997 Karen Armstrong.
Excerpted by permission of Random House Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

Karen Armstrong is a genius.”—A. N. Wilson

“A lyrical chronicle of one woman's wrestling with Genesis that can serve as a guide to others . . . As notable for its scholarship as it is for its honesty and vulnerability.”—Publishers Weekly

“Armstrong can simplify complex ideas, but she is never simplistic.”—The New York Times Book Review

From the Publisher

Having written A History of God (1993) and Jerusalem (1996), prolific and bestselling author Armstrong turns her considerable imaginative skill and critical acumen to an interpretation of the first book of the Bible. In a series of short meditations, Armstrong explores each of the major scriptural units in Genesis, from the creation accounts (Genesis 1-3) to the death of Joseph (Genesis 50). In her reflection on and interpretation of Adam and Eve's fall from grace, she notes that the act of plucking the forbidden fruit renders the couple like God, in that they use their "wisdom and the power that comes with it for apparently evil ends as well as for good." Armstrong integrates the sophistication of biblical scholarship with the more raw inquisitiveness of the common reader. The result is a lyrical chronicle of one woman's wrestling with Genesis that can serve as a guide to others grappling with the book. While many of Armstrong's readings may provoke controversy, she provides a model of scriptural interpretation that is as notable for its scholarship as it is for its honesty and vulnerability. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The best-selling author of A History of God (LJ 9/15/93), Armstrong gives us here essentially a highly personal modern-day midrash. She interprets selected accounts of Genesis using an archetypal approach to literature so as to offer insights into the problematic nature of human religion, especially the problems of separation between humans and God. The author presents the human predicament not as the consequence of a fall that led to the guilt of original sin (per Augustine) but as the "inevitable" result of a process "inherent" in creation. Not all readers will accept her thesis that the God of Genesis is portrayed as no less, and sometimes more, culpable than humans for an ever-widening gulf between them. Nevertheless, one will find here many helpful insights drawn from the religious paradigms of Genesis, such as those concerning the relationship between myth and modern culture. Included here, the text of Genesis (NRSV) makes up a third of the book's volume. For readers of popular religious books. [For more on this book, see "Something To Talk About,'' LJ 9/1/96, p. 140-143.Ed.]Robert H. O'Connell, Colorado Christian Univ., Denver

Library Journal