The Battle For God

Fundamentalism has taken center stage as one of the most powerful forces in today's world, yet it remains incomprehensible to large numbers of people. In The Battle for God, Karen Armstrong, author of the best-selling A History of God, brilliantly and sympathetically dissects how and why fundamentalist groups came into existence and what they yearn to accomplish.

As read by the author, this 6-hour audio series focuses on Protestant, Jewish and Muslim fundamentalism. Armstrong explains the ways in which each of these movements has emerged in response to assault, sometimes unwitting, sometimes intentional, by mainstream society.

Her view is that these movements are complex, innovative and modern rather than throwbacks to the past, but she contends that they have failed in religious terms. Armstrong envisions a symbiotic relationship between these fundamentalist groups and an aggressive modernity, each urging the other on to greater excess, and she believes that compassion is a way to defuse the intensifying conflict underway.