In De wenteltrap vertelt Karen Armstrong hoe ze in 1969, na zeven jaar, het klooster verlaat om in Oxford te studeren. Ze voelt zich als Doornroosje die na een lange sluimer in een vreemde, beangstigende wereld terechtkomt. In Londen volgen de jaren waarin ze haar gebrek aan ervaring inhaalt. Ze heeft relaties, loopt feesten af en maakt vrienden. Uiteindelijk vertrekt ze in 1982 als journaliste naar Jeruzalem. Daar verbreedt ze haar horizon, komt ze in contact met andere culturen en gaat ze zich verdiepen in de islam. Karen Armstrong wisselt in De wenteltrap haar persoonlijke herinneringen af met beschouwende stukken over het falen van de kerk, bidden, het wezen van het geloof, eenzaamheid en spiritualiteit. Rode draad is de zoektocht naar haar eigen, persoonlijke en integere manier van geloven. De wenteltrap is daarvan het openhartige, fascinerende en verhelderende verslag.
Caroline Jacoba Louise Kloos Boeken
A nuanced exploration of the part religion plays in human life, past and present, from one of the foremost commentators on religion at work today. Moving from the Paleolithic Age to the present, Karen Armstrong details the great lengths to which humankind has gone in order to experience a sacred reality that it has called God, Brahman, Nirvana, Allah, or Dao. Focusing especially on Christianity but including Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Chinese spirituality, Armstrong examines the diminished impulse toward religion in our own time, when a significant number of people either want nothing to do with God or question the efficacy of faith. Why has God become incredible? Why is it that atheists and theists alike now think and speak about God in a way that deviates so profoundly from the thinking of our ancestors? Answering these questions with the same depth of knowledge and profound insight that have marked all of her acclaimed books, Armstrong makes clear how the changing face of the world has necessarily changed the importance of religion at both the societal and the individual level. And she makes a powerful, convincing argument for drawing on the insights of the past in order to build a faith that speaks to the needs of our dangerously polarized age.
About 40 years ago popular opinion assumed that religion would become a weaker force and people would certainly become less zealous as the world became more modern and morals more relaxed. But the opposite has proven true, according to theologian and author Karen Armstrong (<i>A History of God</i>), who documents how fundamentalism has taken root and grown in many of the world's major religions, such as Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Even Buddhism, Sikhism, Hinduism, and Confucianism have developed fundamentalist factions. Reacting to a technologically driven world with liberal Western values, fundamentalists have not only increased in numbers, they have become more desperate, claims Armstrong, who points to the Oklahoma City bombing, violent anti-abortion crusades, and the assassination of President Yitzak Rabin as evidence of dangerous extremes.<p> Yet she also acknowledges the irony of how fundamentalism and Western materialism seem to urge each other on to greater excesses. To "prevent an escalation of the conflict, we must try and understand the pain and perception of the other side," she pleads. With her gift for clear, engaging writing and her integrity as a thorough researcher, Armstrong delivers a powerful discussion of a globally heated issue. Part history lesson, part wake-up call, and mostly a plea for healing, Armstrong's writing continues to offer a religious mirror and a cultural vision. <i>--Gail Hudson</i></p>