Accessibility links

Karen Armstrong NPR coverage of Karen Armstrong: News, author interviews, critics' picks and more.
NPR logo Karen Armstrong

Books

Karen Armstrong

Books by Karen Armstrong

Karen Armstrong has written books about:

NPR stories about Karen Armstrong

Review

You Must Read This

Spare And Sublime: A Monastery's Spell Of 'Silence'

Patrick Leigh Fermor's A Time To Keep Silence replicates in style and rhythm the very experience that it seeks to describe. The 95-page book recounts Fermor's visits to several French monasteries in the 1950s, and writer Adam Haslett found the book draws readers into deep contemplation.

Spare And Sublime: A Monastery's Spell Of 'Silence'

Listen · 3:56
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/132708398/133664052" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

The Week's Best Stories From NPR Books

Twelve Concrete Ways To Live A 'Compassionate Life'

From Confucius to Oprah, people have preached compassion for centuries. But how often is it put into practice? In Twelve Steps To A Compassionate Life, religion expert Karen Armstrong describes ways to add kindness to daily routines.

Twelve Concrete Ways To Live A 'Compassionate Life'

Listen · 30:18
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/132809627/132809621" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Books

Authors Find Fertile Mix Of Science And Religion

The novelist Margaret Atwood wrote the anti-religious parable The Handmaid's Tale. Religious scholar Karen Armstrong's latest book is The Case for God. While they may seem at odds, Rick Kleffel investigates the areas in which their views overlap.

Authors Find Fertile Mix Of Science And Religion

Listen · 4:59
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/122107126/122142325" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Review

Book Reviews

An Exhaustive, Invigorating 'Case For God'

When it comes to our current understanding of theology, former Roman Catholic nun Karen Armstrong attempts to bring "something fresh to the table." Reviewer Susan Jane Gilman calls Armstrong's Case for God a "stimulating, hopeful work."

An Exhaustive, Invigorating 'Case For God'

Listen · 3:58
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/112913841/113284027" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Author Interviews

Karen Armstrong Builds A 'Case For God'

Fresh Air

In her new book The Case for God, the author — a former nun — argues that religion is a practical discipline that can teach us to discover new capacities of the mind and heart.

Karen Armstrong Builds A 'Case For God'

Listen · 38:24
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/112968197/113026685" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

'Books That Changed the World'

Karen Armstrong Writes 'Biography' of the Bible

The Bible is the most widely circulated book in history and one of the most influential texts of all time. Religious affairs expert Karen Armstrong weighs in on the uncertain origins and complex development of the Scriptures.

Listen to this 'Talk of the Nation' topic

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/16220762/16220751" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Books

Armstrong, 'Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time'

When the Pope spoke of jihad, and when Danish cartoonists published caricatures of a violent prophet Muhammad, Karen Armstrong blamed "Islamophobia." The author talks about her second biography on the prophet, entitled Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time and warns against what she calls the "myth of Islam as a chronically violent religion."

Armstrong, 'Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time'

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6549530/6549531" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Author Armstrong on Religious 'Transformation'

A bit over 2,000 years ago, human civilization was in the midst of what's called the Axial Age, a critical moment when the world's greatest religions shaped themselves. Karen Armstrong's book The Great Transformation examines the subject. She speaks with Neal Conan.

Author Armstrong on Religious 'Transformation'

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5307044/5307045" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Author Interviews

Karen Armstrong: Myths and the Modern World

Human beings have always used myths as a framework on which to shape religion, literature and, early on, science. Karen Armstrong discusses her new book, A Short History of Myth, which explores how myths morph and change, and why they remain compelling.

Karen Armstrong: Myths and the Modern World

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/4992705/4992706" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript