The acclaimed author Karen Armstrong discusses her new book, Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence (Knopf, 2014), with Joseph Planta.

Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence by Karen Armstrong (Knopf, 2014). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Fields of Blood

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, at TheCommentary.ca.

One of the highly regarded authors on religion of our time, Karen Armstrong joins me now. She’s just published her latest book: Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence. It’s a thoroughly engaging book on how religion and violence seem to be connected, seem to be blamed for all the wars in our history. It’s the contention of the author however that history suggests otherwise, that in fact it’s a religion is the scapegoat and perhaps we need to look at how other factors inspire and carryout violence. The book also looks at aggression and whether humans are wired for violence. I’ll get Karen Armstrong to tell us about this book, and how we should view the fanaticism that we see with ISIS, as well as the warped concept of religion factored in recent deaths of soldiers here in Canada. Karen Armstrong is the author of among other bestselling titles: The Case for God, A History of God, The Battle for God, Holy War, and The Great Transformation. She was awarded the TED Prize in 2008, and has founded the International Charter for Compassion. She lives in Britain, but joined me last week from here in Vancouver, as she was about to speak to an audience with Simon Fraser University’s Centre for Dialogue. The book is published by Knopf. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Karen Armstrong; Ms. Armstrong, good morning.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (17.7MB)

Subscribe: RSS