Don’t be scared away by the title! The Case for God is not facile defense of religion with an overt agenda, like other books with similar titles. Instead, historian of religion (and former nun) Karen Armstrong tackles humanity’s search for the sacred, starting with the Paleolithic cave drawings and ending with the polarized acrimony of today’s religious and antireligious climate. Weaving together the histories of the world’s major religions, Armstrong slowly makes the case that religion is not meant to be a “catalog of beliefs” that an adherent intellectually assents to, but instead that it should be a journey of engagement. Religion is meant to be practiced, and historically has not been a set of cerebral opinions that one must believe in, in order to have faith. Put another way, religion should be a verb, not a noun.
Armstrong’s thorough research and evenhandedness made The Case for God an extremely satisfying read and I would wholeheartedly endorse it to any reader curious about the nature of faith. However, while she gives an overview of Hinduism, Buddhism and Greek mythology, her main lens of focus is the three monotheistic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, with Christianity given the greater portion of attention. Because she emphasizes practice and ritual as the keys to a path with God, I would have enjoyed more discourse on the eastern faiths, which incorporate more of these traits into their traditions. Also, while I did enjoy this book as a progressive person of faith, her thesis may not gel with contemporary fundamentalists or anyone who practices conversational intolerance.
But—as Armstrong would point out—that is okay, because it is through dialogue about God— and the place where words fail us in describing Him--that we experience Him or Her. Armstrong’s quote from Saint Anselm sums up the book nicely: "I do not seek to understand in order that I may have faith, but I commit myself in order that I may understand.”