- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins; First Edition edition (1 Mar 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0007122284
- ISBN-13: 978-0007122288
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.8 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
434,350 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #16 in Books > Mind, Body & Spirit > Spirituality > Women
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
"I have decided to try again", Karen Armstrong writes at the beginning of The Spiral Staircase, in explaining why she is telling her life story for a second time, 20 years after doing so in Beginning the World. "We should probably all pause to confront our past from time to time, because it changes its meaning as our circumstances alter." That's a clue to the sort of open-minded and intensive inquiry that Armstrong is capable of, which has made her, in those 20 years, a bestselling theologian and historian of religion, known for such hugely popular books as The Battle for God, A History of God, and Islam: A Short History.
In the lucid yet reflective manner that is Armstrong's trademark, The Spiral Staircase recalls her painful early life as a nun, her even more painful reentry into secular society, and most compellingly, the long-undiagnosed epilepsy that made her life a horror show of phantom visions and misplaced hours. We follow Armstrong to the Middle East and elsewhere as she searches for answers to questions no less daunting than the significance of faith. Yet what drives Armstrong is her distaste for and distrust of those who see only black or white, never shades of grey. "I disliked the crusading certainty of Ayatollah Khomeini, yet I was also disturbed by the shrill rhetoric of some of Rushdie's champions", she writes in the wake of debate over Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses and the ensuing fatwa issued by the extremists on the Islamic right. Indeed, as religious dogma divides the world in ever new ways, Armstrong's learned views are especially resonant. But The Spiral Staircase, its name inspired by TS Eliot's poem cycle Ash-Wednesday, is not a polemic, despite Armstrong's forceful and persuasive arguments for religious tolerance. Rather, it's a beautiful letter sent by a gifted writer attempting to decode the meaning of her life. --Kim Hughes, Amazon.com
Review
‘The book deserves many readers… Karen Armstrong must be a Woman of Iron to have survived, made a career and a life.' Hilary Mantel
Praise for The Battle for God:
‘The quality of this remarkable book lies as much in its detail as in its sweeping vision’
Daily Telegraph
‘Armstrong displays all her usual talents: she has an eye for colourful evidence, a wonderful gift for clarity of exposition and an unerring sense of pace and voice and narrative.’
Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Literary Review
Praise for The History for God:
‘Only those who think they know it all will fail to be fascinated by Armstrong's search for God.' The Economist
'Highly readable and ought to be read….Karen Armstong has read widely, has missed nothing, and gives us as solid a purview of the God of the past as it would be possible to find in a book,' Anthony Burgess, Observer
'Karen Armstrong is a genius.' A. N. Wilson
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
56 of 61 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Karen Armstrong's books seem to be getting better and better.
The first hundred pages of The Spiral Staircase are interesting, the next very interesting - but the final section is deeply moving and important. After intense study of the sacred texts of the world's major religions, Karen Armstrong re-states with great clarity and understanding a truth discovered by other mystics over the ages - true religious practice does not consist of belief in one creed or another, but in living a compasionate and thoughtful life.
I am reminded of Tolsoy's The Wisdom of Humankind, which comes to similar conclusions.
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In this third volume of Karen Armstrong's biography, she traces her life journey from the time she left the convent and her life as a nun to the present day. She writes of her initial rejection of God and all things religious. She wrote and presented television programmes that promoted a secular view. Her life was marred for a long time by undiagnosed epilepsy, which resulted in the feeling (regrettably supported by her psychologist) that she had serious mental illness. Eventually she returned to religion but not to the conventional God of Western religion. She started to view religions as adherence to certain practices which took one out of oneself. Good religion is that which promotes compassion - feeling what others feel and not treating them in ways in which one would not like to be treated. Bad religion is that which promotes intolerance and hatred. This is a very well-written book that explores one person's search for meaning. It is worth reading by those who are religious, irreligious or just not sure. For me there remained one unanswered question - How can belief and practice be divorced? Whether one adheres to a religious view or not, our beliefs influence our practices but our practices also affect our beliefs.
30 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having read both 'Through the Narrow Gate' and Beginning the World, I was intrigued to find out how Ms Armstrong would handle a further book covering the same period without being repetitive. Indeed, there are some episodes in the book which had been covered previously, but taken this time from a different perspective and I generally did not have a feeling of 'deja vu'. Ms Armstrong did refer to her previous book at times, mainly in a negative light. I did feel that this was perhaps oversensitive of her, as it is inevitable that she would view these episodes differently after a further 20 year gap. However, it was sensitively written and it would be difficult for the reader not to empathise with the difficulties she has encountered in her life. I found the spiritual content excellent and well presented, with well thought out arguments, whether or not I agreed with her conclusions.
Overall, this is an excellent book for anybody with a spiritual turn of mind and I look forward to reading her next book
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Heartening - Made Me Think A Lot
I'd recommend this book to anyone who feels that life is not going quite as they planned, who is asking the question 'where to now? Read more
Published 3 months ago by Kate Hopkins
Not as good as Through the Narrow Gate
I read this book as a follow up from her book "Through the Narrow Gate", hoping, as an ex-nun myself, to find more inspiration. Read more
Published 9 months ago by S
Thought provoking and very readable
This is a book I found it hard to put down once I had started reading - good for a long journey. She writes simply and compellingly about her own experiences, and her life path... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Mrs. Vanessa Mitchell
Great read, flawed gospel
A powerful book, exceptionally well written, and full of interesting insights and commentary. I read it because I had already read her The Bible: The Biography, which is... Read more
Published 12 months ago by J. Sale
enthralling autobiography
Karen Armstrong has an unusual and interesting story to tell and she tells it with enormous brio. Not a drop of self-pity falls from her pen as she recounts the difficult path she... Read more
Published 13 months ago by H. Easton
A curious return to 'God'.
This is Armstrong's third volume of autobiography, and it attempts to completely undermine her second. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Geoff Sawers
spiral staircase
Absorbing in every respect. The last chapters are particularly good as Karen puts her past behind her, picks herself up and starts a new life doing what she was supposed to do if... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mr. Moshe Elias
Enjoyable read
I found Karen Armstrong's book brave and honest - she doesn't try for sympathy, but gives an account of her life after leaving the convent through Oxford and teaching to exploring... Read more
Published on 25 Feb 2010 by Ms. Caroline Phillips
Karen Armstrong's Memoir
Having read several of Karen Armstrong's books, starting with "Through the Narrow Gate" many years ago, I was intrigued to read this autobiography. Read more
Published on 23 Feb 2010 by Thelma Batchelor
Beautifully honest written memoir
This is a wonderful memoir of a girl that was a nun for seven years and ended up leaving after feeling disillusioned and became a teacher, writer, speaker and much more. Read more
Published on 15 Feb 2010 by Mr. R. N. Lock
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