A History of God (Essay Sample)

A HISTORY OF GOD Student's Name Class Date Similar to how Jean-Paul Sartre describes the human longing for God with literature, Karen Armstrong attempts to do the same by using historical moments and her personal experience. The book A History of God is not necessarily about an all-powerful God, but rather a story about how the idea of God has evolved in the past five thousand years through philosophy, science, politics, and art. Armstrong uses various historical events to portray the evolution of God. However, she avoids the question of "Is there a god?" By avoiding the latter, she narrates an original tale of her religion, beliefs, and human nature. The Beginning The entire book is like a museum that uses relics on display to tell the history of human faith. In the Bible, during the beginning, God created human beings as a reflection of his image. In contrast, Armstrong's take on creation proposes that humans created the idea of God or a "Ruler" of heaven and earth. This sets the tone for the book. She goes on to explain the origins of the "Sky-Gods" of ancient times. In other words, the human acknowledgment of a creator who resides in heavens to watch over humanity. Armstrong proposes that this notion gave way to several rituals of praying by looking up to the sky, which is also referred to as "praying to the heavens" in many cultures.[Karen Armstrong, A History of God, (Ballantine Books, 1994), 11-15.] [2. Ibid.] The story begins with tribal gods, which were linked to daily events such as the rising of the sun or the changing seasons. These stories traveled from African tribes to European countries, where these beings evolved into more elaborate Gods known as the Pantheon or Olympians. In the time of the Greeks, the idea of one all-powerful God was changed to the belief in multi-level deities: lower and higher-level Gods such as Zeus and Hermaphrodeity. They were perceived as spirits that resided in mundane objects like plants and animals. Armstrong states that the existence of an all-powerful being that controls everything in the world makes God unattainable. Therefore, the society found the need to change God into deities that were more accessible by giving them characteristics of human beings with special powers. Gods played a significant role in explaining unknown phenomena. The Greeks and Pagans attributed catastrophic or major events to "angry" or "happy" Gods, rather than natural events.[3. Ibid., 16-17.] The Middle Further in the book, Armstrong proposes that the reason why religion is insignificant in the modern life is that people are not able to "feel" or "sense" the need for a God. The modern society is disconnected from the critical aspects of life such as the need for food or water mainly due to the abundance of resources. The inception of religion began after people realized the importance of having water, daylight, food, and everything required to survive on the Earth. Thus, from the start, the unknown cycles of life and the lack of understanding of how the environment functions created a "hole" that was filled by religious beliefs. Armstrong states that for thousands of years, Jews, Muslims, and Christians replaced the view of exuberant Pantheon Gods for a more spiritualistic or "holy" approach. The reason for this change was prompted once again by the lack of resources in the Middle Eastern lands. People in arid regions such as Jerusalem lived hardship in the wild, which led them to practice religion to find strength. Additionally, she proposes that the belief of the modern "God" arose from the need to show the things humans "lose" in life rather than what they gain. Armstrong refers to the latter as the most ingenious idea brought forth by religion. It was significant enough that it was used by the Church to build the modern Christianity.[4. Ibid., 18.] The idea of God as a supreme being that is perpetual, infinite, and perfect is described by Armstrong as "unreal”. This notion is expressed in all major religions, and it is the culmination of five thousand years of religious beliefs. In the modern times, the idea of heaven and hell is universally expressed; it has become the pillar of religious institutions. Intriguingly, Armstrong states that she feels a stronger relation to hell than to heaven because she can imagine it vividly. She expands on this by saying that humans live a great deal of pain and suffering. Therefore, it is more plausible to believe that hell exists. Whereas, she feels that the notion of a perfect heaven, where no one suffers, is unreal and unattainable.[5. Ibid., 19.] [6. Ibid., 34-36.] After being born into a religion, Armstrong learned a great deal about the Church's use of fear to inculcate loyalty in their followers. The more she read about saints, God, angels, and miracles, the more she felt that God was distant. During her time as a nun, Armstrong delved into the scrip...