Karen Armstrong will speak on her lifelong spiritual quest in April 18 lecture in Watson Auditorium

Karen Armstrong will speak on her lifelong spiritual quest in April 18 lecture in Watson AuditoriumApril 14, 2005Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

Karen Armstrong, the 2005 Jeannette K. Watson Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Humanities in The College of Arts and Sciences, will deliver a public address as part of the celebration of the inaugural year of Chancellor Nancy Cantor on Monday, April 18.

She will speak on “The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness,” at 7:30 p.m. in Watson Auditorium, 316 Waverly Ave. Paid parking is available in the Marion and Comstock lots.

It was in Jerusalem, while working on a television series on Saint Paul, that Armstrong came face-to-face with how three of the world’s religions-Christianity, Islam and Judaism-often clashed, sometimes violently, even though all are rooted in the belief that every human being is sacred. She has examined these religions, the notion of God and the origins and growth of fundamentalism and its opposition to the modern world in more than a dozen books, including “A History of God” (Ballantine, 1993); “Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths” (Knopf, 1996); “Islam: A Short History” (Modern Library, 2000) and “The Battle for God: Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam” (Knopf, 2000). Armstrong’s two biographies, “Buddha” (Viking Penguin, 2001) and “Muhammad” (Harper Collins, 1992) have also received widespread critical acclaim.

Armstrong’s latest book, “The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness” (Knopf, 2004), a memoir, details her lifelong spiritual quest. She spent several years in a convent in England, leaving in 1969 after her personal search for God ended in failure.

Armstrong is currently an instructor at Leo Baeck College-Centre for Jewish Education in London and was the recipient of the 1999 Muslim Public Affairs Council Media Award.