Karen Armstrong reviews The Norton Anthology of World Religions in the New York Times.

“At a time when religious faith is coming under intense scrutiny, The Norton Anthology of World Religions is presenting a documentary history of six major faiths with sufficient editorial explanation to make their major texts intelligible across the barriers of time and space,” Karen Armstrong explains. “This second volume in the series is a textual overview of the three monotheisms — Judaism, Christianity and Islam — from the early scriptures to contemporary writings.”

Armstrong presents the volume’s approaches, concluding that “at a time when religion is often regarded as inherently violent, the anthology reminds us that it has also been a force for peace. … But, alas, religiously articulated violence is now a fact of life.”

Karen Armstrong’s review is published in the New York Times online.