The centuries between 800 and 300 BC saw an explosion of new religious concepts. Their emergence is second only to man's harnessing of fire in fundamentally transforming our understanding of what it is to be human. But why did Socrates, Buddha, Confucius, Jeremiah, Lao Tzu and others all emerge in this five-hundred-year span? And why do they have such similar ideas about humanity? In The Great Transformation, Karen Armstrong examines this phenomenal period and the connections between this disparate group of philosophers, mystics and theologians.
Chapter 1. THE AXIAL PEOPLES (c. 1600 to 900 bce)
Chapter 2. RITUAL (c. 900 to 800 bce)
Chapter 3. KENOSIS (c. 800 to 700 bce)
Chapter 4. KNOWLEDGE (c. 700 to 600 bce)
Chapter 5. SUFFERING (c. 600 to 530 bce)
Chapter 6. EMPATHY (c. 530 to 450 bce)
Chapter 7. CONCERN FOR EVERYBODY (c. 450 to 398 bce)
Chapter 8. ALL IS ONE (c. 400 to 300 BCE)
Chapter 9. EMPIRE (c. 300 to 220 BCE)