Reviewed by David Young

Karen Armstrong is a former Catholic nun whose books over the past 20 years have won her many followers and placed her firmly in the forefront of current religious writers. In The Case for God she traces the history of the concept of “ God “ from its very beginnings with the early pre-Christian Greek philosophers, through the development of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths, up until the very latest views of the post-modern atheists. She focusses primarily on Western Europe and the Middle East as the home of the monotheistic religions, with occasional reference to the United States as appropriate.

In order to fully illuminate how man’s views of God have changed over time, she places it in the context of economic, social, political, philosophical and scientific developments, showing the continuous interplay between non-religious influences and the growth and adaptation of religious theories within those environments. In order to do so she demonstrates a truly remarkable grasp of a wide range of multi-disciplinary concepts, extending also into literature, music, psychology and sociology.

There are moments in the book which call for some headscratching – hardly unavoidable when trying to explain mystical ideas like the Holy Trinity – but Amstrong’s limpid and flowing prose style helped this reader over the hurdles and she wears her learning very lightly.

She is particularly strong in her analysis of fundamentalist movements, their roots and motivations, which should be required reading for anyone hoping to understand how best to deal with the current terror problems we face.

Almost inevitably, she concludes the main body of the work with a question mark – there are simply too many unknowables to ever be fully resolved to everyone‘s complete satisfaction and new developments in thought and science will continue to offer new perspectives on conventional wisdom. She concludes with a most moving Epilogue, putting forward her view that all religions have at their heart the principles of compassion, understanding and humanity, and making a plea for a return to the Socratic model of open-minded discussion rather than polarised argument.

If I were to criticise anything in this book ( I am living in the Netherlands after all ), it is that she allows her objectivity to slip once, in a strong criticism of the modern atheism of Richard Dawkins and his followers. She clearly feels passionately about their views, but this section struck a discordant note for me.

However I would not wish this to detract from my admiration for a remarkable work of scholarship, full of enlightenment, insights and imaginative leaps across boundaries I could never have conceived for myself. It is much broader in scope than its title would suggest, and I would strongly recommend it to anyone wanting a general understanding of how modern Western society has become what we now see around us. I can’t remember any single book from which I have learnt more, and will continue to refer back to it frequently in the future.

( As a postscript, a lady I met on a train while reading this book tells me it has already been translated into Dutch. )

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