‘The Norton Anthology of World Religions: Volume II’

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Karen Armstrong
The Norton Anthology of World Religions: Volume 1: Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism; Volume 2: Judaism, Christianity, Islam
PUBLISHING---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. 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. It is presented as a journey of exploration, but any reader who hopes to emerge from this literary excursion with a clear-cut understanding of these religions will be disappointed — and that is the great strength of this book. [link]

From left: Part of an 800-year-old Torah scroll; a page from an 11th-century manuscript of the Quran; and the opening of an illuminated Latin Gospel of Luke from the 15th century.