> Skip to content
  • Published: 1 May 2011
  • ISBN: 9780099555476
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 192
  • RRP: $45.00

In the Beginning

A New Interpretation of Genesis




The bestselling author brings her peerless powers of examination to one of the most familiar but least understood books of the Bible: the Book of Genesis.

The foundation stone of Jewish and Christian scriptures, the power of the Book of Genesis lies in its stories - Creation, the Fall, Cain and Abel, Noah, Abraham, Jacob and Joseph. These ancient tales illuminate some of our most enduring and profound problems: cowardice, the struggle with evil, the difficulty of facing past mistakes, achieving a true understanding of our innermost selves. Karen Armstrong traces the themes and meanings of these stories, examining what they can still tell us about the human quest for meaning.

  • Published: 1 May 2011
  • ISBN: 9780099555476
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 192
  • RRP: $45.00

About the author

Karen Armstrong

Karen Armstrong is one of the world's leading commentators on religious affairs. She spent seven years as a Roman Catholic nun, but left her teaching order in 1969 to read English at St Anne's College, Oxford. In 1982, she became a full time writer and broadcaster. She is a best-selling author of over 16 books. A passionate campaigner for religious liberty, Armstrong has addressed members of the United States Congress and participated in the World Economic Forum. In 2013 she recieved the British Academy's inaugural Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize for improving transcultural understanding.

Also by Karen Armstrong

See all

Praise for In the Beginning

Both humble and generous, Karen Armstrong rescues Genesis from purely literary criticism by seeing it as a collection of rather baffling teaching stories, and argues forcefully that we have to struggle for the meanings embedded in the often mysterious text, much as Jacob wrestled all night with God in the shape of an angel.

Independent

Superb...a jewel of a study... The entire book is written with the same level of passion and insight...Ms Armstrong has taken a familiar biblical story and made it relevant to our deepest and darkest concerns...a little masterpiece worthy of being a long-treasured companion to the ancient classic she celebrates

Washington Post

Armstrong reveals much about this ostensibly familiar work

Christopher Hirst, Independent

Armstrong wants to restore the philosophical to the question of faith, and she does so in an approachable manner

Lesley McDowell, Herald