The Great Transformation

The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions

By: Karen Armstrong

Narrated by: Karen Armstrong

From one of the world’s leading writers on religion and the highly acclaimed author of the bestselling A History of God, The Battle for God and The Spiral Staircase, comes a major new work: a chronicle of one of the most important intellectual revolutions in world history and its relevance to our own time.

In one astonishing, short period – the ninth century BCE – the peoples of four distinct regions of the civilized world created the religious and philosophical traditions that have continued to nourish humanity into the present day: Confucianism and Daoism in China; Hinduism and Buddhism in India; monotheism in Israel; and philosophical rationalism in Greece. Historians call this the Axial Age because of its central importance to humanity’s spiritual development. Now, Karen Armstrong traces the rise and development of this
transformative moment in history, examining the brilliant contributions to these traditions made by such figures as the Buddha, Socrates, Confucius and Ezekiel.

Armstrong makes clear that despite some differences of emphasis, there was remarkable consensus among these religions and philosophies: each insisted on the primacy of compassion over hatred and violence. She illuminates what this “family” resemblance reveals about the religious impulse and quest of humankind. And she goes beyond spiritual archaeology, delving into the ways in which these Axial Age beliefs can present an instructive and thought-provoking challenge to the ways we think about and practice religion today.

A revelation of humankind’s early shared imperatives, yearnings and inspired solutions – as salutary as it
is fascinating.

Excerpt from The Great Transformation:

In our global world, we can no longer afford a parochial or exclusive vision. We must learn to live and behave as though people in remote parts of the globe were as important as ourselves. The sages of the Axial Age did not create their compassionate ethic in idyllic circumstances. Each tradition developed in societies like our own that were torn apart by violence and warfare as never before; indeed, the first catalyst of religious change was usually a visceral rejection of the aggression that the sages witnessed all around them. . . .

All the great traditions that were created at this time are in agreement about the supreme importance of charity and benevolence, and this tells us something important about our humanity.

Critic reviews

"The Great Transformation can serve the needs of new readers interested in a popular work that synthesizes scholarship. . . . [U]seful to anyone seeking an integral sense of world religions."
—The Globe and Mail

Praise for Karen Armstrong:
"Karen Armstrong is a genius."
—A. N. Wilson, author of Jesus: A Life

"Armstrong is a lucid writer with a knack for synthesizing vast quantities of research."
—The Globe and Mail

"Armstrong’s writing continues to offer a religious mirror and a cultural vision."
—Amazon.com

"Armstrong has a dazzling ability: she can take a long and complex subject and reduce it to the fundamentals, without oversimplifying."
—The Sunday Times

audible should focus on quality as much as lroft

the book is excellent. Fascinating, and requires time to think! no proble with the book. it's Audible that I find keeps doing a second rate job. the chapter divisions are based on time, rather than the actual chapter divisions. why? because obviously the audio files were based on 46 munte cassette sides. Audible could take the time to re-cut the audio files to align with the actual book chapters, but why would they bother? doing a good job isn't important to them if you will pay for their lousy job. but there's no warning or information to say "copied over from old cassette audio with inaccurate chapter breaks".

Great book!

A Must Read for our time. Open yourself to a new perspective on humanity, as related to religion and ego.

For serious study.

I would not suggest this for light reading or listening, but if you are dedicated to understanding the subject, it is an awesome resource.

This is a very informative, perspective enriching content, however, I found the style the content is presented in and the vocal performance were very formal and dry. I found it a bit lacking in personality and humor that could have made it a more pleasant experience for the listener/reader.

This book is definitely worth the investment and time for serious students of comparative religion and philosophy.

So far so good

Good content. Less citations than I expected, but I am only partway through. eagerly looking forward to the rest of the book. The Audible narration is what made me want to post a review right away. The author's queen's english is beautiful. But did no editor or production manager tell her that she was butchering all the Chinese words? It cracked me up when she tried saying "Chunqiu" (spring and autumn). I sound NOTHING like the Chinese. 😂

minor complaint

I have one minor complaint. The book chapters and the audible chapters don't line up.