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Lent book group

15th March 2019 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

|Recurring Event (See all)

An event every week that begins at 12:00 pm on Friday, repeating until 5th April 2019

Meeting together at the Cross Keys Pub, from 12-1pm on Friday lunchtimes for four weeks in Lent, where we will be discussing Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life, by Karen Armstrong.

15th March: Step 1 (pages 1-57)

22nd March: Steps 2-5 (pages 58-99)

29th March: Steps 6-8 (pages 100-131)

5th April: Steps 9-12 (pages 132-178)

Taking as her starting point the teachings of the great world religions, Karen Armstrong demonstrates in twelve practical steps how we can bring compassion to the forefront of our lives. These steps both reveal the inadequacies of our knowledge of ourselves and others and enable us to unlock our potential for understanding, empathy and altruism that can be translated into acts of kindness and charity. They culminate in the most radical and challenging of all religious maxims – love your enemy. Yet in today’s world, compassion in no longer a luxury but, in the words of Martin Luther King, ‘an absolute necessity for our survival’.

“A profound and lucid mixture of philosophy, theology and self-help. It’s a perfect detox for the soul… Spry, eloquent, pacy…. Armstrong has a knack for grappling with complex ideas in the lightest of ways” (The Times)

“It sees Armstrong combine in this brief volume both her usual high quality historical scholarship and an explicit self-help programme that echoes her rousing lectures… Challenging, persuasive self-help book that seeks to distil the very best of religion” (Independent)

“One of the charming things about Armstrong’s book is its deliberate descents into bathos. We move from the high thoughts of the old sages to the demands of everyday life…from an exquisitely intelligent exposition of Sophocles’s Oedipus Tyrannus to a meditation upon how we might overcome a personal dislike of a colleague or family member” (Financial Times)

Karen Armstrong is one of the world’s leading commentators on religious affairs. She spent seven years as a Roman Catholic nun in the 1960s, but then 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 15 books. An accomplished writer and passionate campaigner for religious liberty, Armstrong has addressed members of the United States Congress and the Senate and has participated in the World Economic Forum.

 

Details

Date:
15th March 2019
Time:
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Venue

Cross Keys Pub
57 Black Lion Ln
London, W6 9BG United Kingdom

Organiser

Charles Clapham