Living Theology
in the Metropolitan Chicago Synod
Evangelical Lutheran Church
In America
Vol. 7 No. 1
Summer 2002
The Battle for
God by
Karen Armstrong, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2000.
In the aftermath of
September 11th, as people struggle to understand the causes, impact,
and implications of terrorism, Karen Armstrong’s book The Battle for God is both timely and particularly relevant. She traces the causes of religious
fundamentalism in Islam, particularly in Egypt and Iran, Judaism particularly
in Israel, and Christianity, particularly within the Protestant traditions in
the United Sates. Armstrong shows the reader the parallel development of
fundamentalism within the three religions and how these movements affected one
another historically and currently.
As demonstrated in her
previous books, The History of God
and Jerusalem, Armstrong has a great
passion for and knowledge of the three religions. Her commanding use of historical information in supporting her
broad and over-arching themes is impressive and a bit daunting, particularly if
the reader is not familiar with the religious traditions or their
histories. She covers much ground
between the year 1492, a year that serves as a mark in the beginning of the
modern state in Western Europe, and our current day. Distinguishing the patterns within these histories, she
identifies the poles of myth and reason, the masses and the elite, and the past
and the future in which religious thought and expression are given sway. The “who and how” questions of religious
authority are examined in light of the complex and often contradictory
religious goals of the fundamentalist movements.
Armstrong develops the
argument that religious fundamentalism can be seen partly as a reaction against
the liberal political, economic, and religious ideologies of the modern
state. In Christianity, for example,
Armstrong cites the Presbyterians of Princeton who in 1910 issued a “list of
dogmas which they deemed essential: (1)
the inerrancy of Scripture, (2) the Virgin Birth of Christ, (3) Christ’s
atonement for our sins on the cross, (4) his bodily resurrection, and (5) the
objective reality of his miracles.” (p. 171) Later, between 1910 and 1915, two
oil millionaires issued a series of twelve paperback pamphlets entitled The Fundamentals which were aimed at
countering the higher criticism of Biblical scholarship taught at theological
seminaries and universities. From these
writings the conservative movement within the Protestant denominations became
known as fundamentalism.
But religious fundamentalism
is not only a reaction to the modern state, it also provides a vision for its
adherents that gives meaning and constancy to their lives in a world that is
constantly changing. It is a new way of
being religious when the belief systems of the past have failed. Also, Armstrong is able to show that while
the fundamentalist movements are a reaction against the modern state they are
also adroit at using modern techniques in their organizing principles, tactics,
and mobilization of forces.
Similarly, Armstrong traces
the roots of fundamentalism within Judaism and Islam. In Islam, the Irananian
Revolution is a clear example of a conservative religious movement, reacting to
the liberal modern state and its symbol the Shah, mobilizing masses of
disaffected people. Unlike the West the division between the state and religion
had not embedded deeply within the culture, and as a result the revolution was
successful at reestablishing a theocratic state with the Ayatollah Khomeini as
its head.
As Armstrong covers so much
historical detail of the three religions over a 600-year period she does not
have the luxury, perhaps, of a more nuanced approach to her subject. As a result she can mischaracterize or too
easily fit a theologian, a religious leader, or the movement into her
scheme. For example, her treatment of
Martin Luther could be considered a misrepresentation of Luther and his
writings, when she writes:
“In his usual
pugnacious way, Luther spoke of Aristotle with hatred, and loathed Erasmus,
whom he regarded as the epitome of reason, which, he was convinced, could only
lead to atheism. In pushing reason out
of the religious sphere, Luther was one of the first Europeans to secularize
it.
“Because,
for Luther, God was utterly mysterious and hidden, the world was empty of the
divine. Luther’s Deus Absconditus could not be discovered either in human
institutions or in physical reality.
Medieval Christians experienced the sacred in the Church, which Luther
now declared to be the Antichrist. Nor
was it permissible to reach a knowledge of God by reflecting on the marvelous
order of the universe, as the scholastic theologians (also objects of Luther’s
rage) had done. In Luther’s writings
God had begun to retreat from the physical world, which now had no religious
significance at all. Luther also
secularized politics. Because mundane
reality was utterly opposed to the spiritual, church and state must operate
independently, each respecting the other’s proper sphere of activity. Luther’s passionate religious vision had
made him one of the first Europeans to advocate the separation of church and
state. Yet again, the secularization of
politics began as a new way of being religious.” (pp.66-67)
Certainly
Luther’s vehemence against his opponents drew and continues to draw criticism,
but to try to capture Luther’s whole body of writings and thought into one page
of a 400 page book does not do justice to Luther or the reform movement. Did Luther consider the Church the
Antichrist or was he criticizing those in power who were usurping its authority
for human gain and power? Is
Armstrong’s characterization of Luther’s doctrine of Two Kingdoms totally
accurate?
That being said, I would recommend this book for its
invaluable contribution to the overall treatment of its subject. What is most valuable about this book is
that the reader is given a broad and balanced picture of the roots, patterns,
and trends of the fundamentalist movement within the three religions,
particularly as they are laid out in a parallel fashion. In this way, the reader can more clearly see
that the ground of extreme beliefs and practices produces results that can look
identical to each other. Yet these
movements in their less extreme forms have been instrumental in providing hope
and faith to disaffected people and have been built upon as Armstrong also clearly
demonstrates.
The fundamentalist
movements, like all movements, contain both the seeds of creativity and
faithfulness as well as the seeds of destruction and fear. This is a book that lets us look at both.
The Rev. Brian Halverson