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Also by Karen Armstrong:

St. Paul, October 2015
Paperback / e-Book
Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life, January 2011
Hardcover
The Case for God, October 2009
Hardcover
The Bible, November 2007
Hardcover
The Great Transformation, March 2006
Hardcover

TWELVE STEPS TO A COMPASSIONATE LIFE
By: Karen Armstrong

Knopf
January 2011
On Sale: December 28, 2010
240 pages
ISBN: 0307595595
EAN: 9780307595591
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction

One of the most original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern world—author of such acclaimed books as A History of God, Islam, and Buddha—now gives us an impassioned and practical book that can help us make the world a more compassionate place.

Karen Armstrong believes that while compassion is intrinsic in all human beings, each of us needs to work diligently to cultivate and expand our capacity for compassion. Here, in this straightforward, thoughtful, and thought-provoking book, she sets out a program that can lead us toward a more compassionate life.

The twelve steps Armstrong suggests begin with “Learn About Compassion” and close with “Love Your Enemies.” In between, she takes up “compassion for yourself,” mindfulness, suffering, sympathetic joy, the limits of our knowledge of others, and “concern for everybody.” She suggests concrete ways of enhancing our compassion and putting it into action in our everyday lives, and provides, as well, a reading list to encourage us to “hear one another’s narratives.” Throughout, Armstrong makes clear that a compassionate life is not a matter of only heart or mind but a deliberate and often life-altering commingling of the two.

Media Buzz

Charlie Rose - January 12, 2011
Talk of the Nation - January 10, 2011