Responding to the profound challenges of our times, this book provides a comparative and cross-cultural exploration of the role of religion in war in a long historical perspective, from the second millennium BCE, and even earlier, up to early modernity.
Individual chapters focus on the ancient Near East, the Mediterranean basin, Europe and North Africa. Widely diverse case studies explore the historic link between the conduct of war and the growing complexity of human society conditioned by the ownership of ideological authority. The book explores how in most historical societies this authority was religious.
Written by experts from different disciplinary perspectives, the volume challenges common assumptions about the historical relationship between religion and war and extends our understanding of the dangers and complexities of today’s world.
List of Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction: Religion And War - A Recurring Historical Nexus, Irene Polinskaya, Alan James, Yannis Papadogiannakis (King’s College London, UK) Part I: Near East, Egypt and the Hebrew Bible (3000-500 BCE) 2. ‘The Plans of the Gods Are Destroyed’: Babylonian Doubts about The Gods and War, Seth Richardson (University Of Chicago, USA) 3. The ‘Holy War’ of Eanatum In Light of the Early Dynastic Central Babylonian Tradition, Xianhua Wang (Shanghai International Studies University, China) 4. ‘Let Us Step for Judgment before the Storm God’: Hittite ‘Declarations of War’ And The Divine, Amir Gilan (Tel Aviv University, Israel) 5. How To Justify War: The Interlocking Hittite and Hebrew Genres of Treaty And Prayer, Mary R. Bachvarova (Williamette University, USA) 6. Divine Intervention in Egyptian Warfare: The New Kingdom, Tony Spalinger (University Of Auckland, New Zealand 7. The Cosmic Front: War and Its Impact on Official Religion In The Neo-Assyrian Empire (C.1000-610 Bce) Shana Zaia (University Of Vienna, Austria) 8. Their Seed Is No More: Rhetorical Strategies of Genocide In Ancient Egypt and The Hebrew Bible, Laura M. Zucconi (Stockton University, USA) 9. Deuteronomic Laws of War, Nili Wazana (Hebrew University Of Jerusalem, Israel) Part II: Classical And Late Antiquity (500 BCE – 700 CE) 10. Divine Honours and Religious Motivations in Greek Wars of the Classical Period, Irene Polinskaya (King’s College London, UK) 11. Gods and Kings: Authority, Religion and Violence in the Maccabean Revolt, Alex Mcauley (University of Auckland, New Zealand) 12. Roman Commanders without Auspices during the Last Three Centuries of the Republic, Yann Berthelet, (Université de Liège, Belgium) 13. Pollution, Divine Anger and Political Legitimacy in Rome’s Civil Wars, Jack Lennon (University of Leicester, UK) 14.Visions of Victory: The Emperor Constantine and The Role of Epiphanies in Military Context Yannis Papadogiannakis (King’s College London, UK) 15. The Early Christians and War: Tertullian’s Witness, Ben Kolbeck (University of Cambridge, UK) 16. The Persian Conquest of Jerusalem (614) and the Religious Dimension of the ‘Last Great War Of Antiquity’ (603-628), Yuri Stoyanov (School Of Oriental And African Studies, University of London, UK) Part III: Middle Ages and Early Modern Period (700-1650) 17. Creating Enemies of God: The Sacralization of War And The Use of Takfir In The Medieval Islamic West, Javier Albarrán (Universidad Autónoma De Madrid, Spain) 18. The Role of Religion in the Mongol Conquest of Baghdad in 1258, Nassima Neggaz (New College of Florida, USA) 19. Battle, Divine Judgement and Strategy In The Early Years of The Hundred Years’ War, Jan Willem Honig (Netherlands Defence Academy, The Netherlands) 20. The Making of Isabella I of Castile, A Rear-Guard Crusader and Victor over Nasrid Granada, Jorge Fernández-Santos (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid) 21. God’s Warriors in the Most Christian Kingdom: A Reconsideration of the French Religious Wars, Penny Roberts (University Of Warwick, UK) 22. Protestantism, Identity and The Mobilization of Military Force: Huguenot Troops In Sweden’s Baltic Campaigns, 1605-1614, Jaakko Björklund ,(University Of Helsinki, Finland) 23. Religion and War At Sea: Grotius, Richelieu And ‘Just War’ In The Age of Westphalian States And Global Empires, Alan James (King’s College London, USA) Part IV: A Longue Durée Perspective 24. The Military-Religious Complex: Gods, Kings and Violence Since The Ice Age, Ian Morris (Stanford University, USA) 25. Religion, War and the Legitimation of Power: Another Perspective, Hans Van Wees (University College London, UK) Afterword. Religion and War: The Threat to Democracy, Richard Ned Lebow (King’s College London, UK) Bibliography Index
Irene Polinskaya is Reader in Ancient History in the Department of Classics, King’s College London, UK. Alan James is Reader in International History in the Department of War Studies, King’s College London, UK. Ioannis Papadogiannakis is Senior Lecturer in Late Antique and Byzantine Studies in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King’s College London, UK.
Reviews for Religion and War from Antiquity to Early Modernity
This book advances some bold, provocative theories and some compelling case-studies on religion and war have interacted over the long sweep of history. More importantly, it declares this whole field of study open for business. * Alec Ryrie, Professor of the History of Chrisitanity, Durham University, UK * Replete with profound insights into recurrent attitudes to war, this marvellous collection tracks the “military-religious complex” (Ian Morris) – the collusion between throne and altar – in the wars of different ages and civilisations. We see it still when the Russian Orthodox Church blesses Putin’s wars, and in the wars in the names of Allah and Jehovah in the Middle East today. * Beatrice Heuser, Chair of International Relations, University of Glasgow, UK *
