Comments on: Karen Armstrong on Axial Age

By: Darwiniana » Twelve steps of the Jain yogis?

Darwiniana » Twelve steps of the Jain yogis? — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 18:51:39 +0000

[...] Here is the post here on Armstrong on the Axial Age, a perennial favorite here at this blog: http://darwiniana.com/2005/11/20/karen-armstrong-on-axial-age/ The Bodley Head is delighted to have acquired UK and Commonwealth rights (excl. Canada) to TWELVE [...]

By: Darwiniana » The public curious, but stymied, on question of Axial Age

Darwiniana » The public curious, but stymied, on question of Axial Age — Wed, 19 May 2010 21:20:38 +0000

[...] One of the most popular posts on this blog: Karen Armstrong on the Axial Age [...]

By: Critique of Armstrong link | The Axial Age

Critique of Armstrong link | The Axial Age — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 20:00:23 +0000

[...] Always one of the msot popular posts at Darwiniana: http://darwiniana.com/2005/11/20/karen-armstrong-on-axial-age/ [...]

By: Darwiniana » Armstrong’s confusion over Axial Age

Darwiniana » Armstrong’s confusion over Axial Age — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:55:45 +0000

[...] of the most popular posts on this blog: Karen Armstrong on Axial Age [...]

By: Darwiniana » More on ‘Second’ Axial Age

Darwiniana » More on ‘Second’ Axial Age — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 01:27:40 +0000

[...] I have a previous post on Karen Armstrong’s notion of a ‘Second Axial Age’, a completely confused idea, see here. This was an interview at Enlightenment magazine. A letter to the editor in the next issue shows total confusion on the subject. Sit down and stuy the eonic effect, and the eonic model, and the fallacy of Armstrong’s thinking will become clear. My problem with this is the postmodern strategy of the gurus trying to promote these New Age anti-modern religious movements. That, in an off itself, would not be so problematical–apart from mere lunacy–if it weren’t for the concealed anti-democratic nature of the basic initiatives. Armstrong has completely confused the Axial Age as a kind of era of spiritual movements, when its character is far more general. The birth of modern secularism occurs in the Axial Age. The rise of modernity is the only meaningful successor to the phenomenon seen in antiquity. This situation is a pity because we are being deprived of correct knowledge of one of the critical datasets both for history and the question of evolution. The letter to the editor below is full of so many inaccuracies and fallacies I can hardly deal with all of them: a separate post analyzing it would be helpful. [...]

By: Darwiniana » Armstrong’s Religous Revolution

Darwiniana » Armstrong’s Religous Revolution — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 07:19:57 +0000

[...] http://darwiniana.com/2005/11/20/karen-armstrong-on-axial-age/ [...]

By: Darwiniana » Voodoo Scholarship

Darwiniana » Voodoo Scholarship — Sun, 27 Nov 2005 06:00:08 +0000

[...] What is Enlightenment? magazine, issue 31, has an article on Karen Armstrong and the supposed â€˜Second Axial Ageâ€™. See post from a few days ago: Armstrong on Axial Age. The issue of the magazine in question raises a sore point: these guru environments are not domains of free discussion, rather, authoritarian control zones where dissent can be dangerous to mental health. WARNING! And the warning is….? You figure it out. You have thirty seconds to get your occult firewall in operation. If you need a warning it is already too late. Catching celebrities in these nets is a tactic that does not bode well for open enquiry. The pioneer here was that ominous figure Gurdjieff who managed to snare two competent mathematicians, Ouspensky and J. G. Bennett, to produce pseudo-spiritual literature in service of hidden agendas, without their quite realizing what the game was. These two figures were intellectually corrupted by the process, but what they left behind, especially in the case of Ouspensky, was a goldmine for shark sufis: a pseudo-spiritual corpus that attracts tens of thousands of people a year. If only a handful fall into the trap, that’s enough. [...]

By: Darwiniana » More on Armstrong’s Axial Age

Darwiniana » More on Armstrong’s Axial Age — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 16:46:23 +0000

[...] Continuing the question of Karen Armstrong on the Axial Age, previous post here, which you can read first. Googling Karen Armstrong’s views on a so-called ‘Second Axial Age’ I find a number of seminars on the subject, with this from a conference of the Jesus Seminar Who should we find present here but Eugenie Scott! Hey wait a minute! I will indulge a moment’s (paranoid) speculation that we are to be treated to a version of the “Second Axial Age” that is sanitized on Darwin. You won’t get away with it. If you propose an Axial Age, or a second Axial Age, you have to declare by what evolutionary dynamic this occurs, and in the process address the issue of Darwinism. Obviously that will kill the sales of Ms. Armstrong’s projected book, and with Eugenie Scott scurrying in the shadows I doubt if we wil hear a peep on evolution. [...]