1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910816292203321

Autore

Block Thomas

Titolo

A fatal addiction : war in the name of God / / Thomas Block

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, : Algora Pub., c2012

ISBN

0-87586-932-7

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (226 p.)

Disciplina

201.7273

201/.7273

Soggetti

Violence - Religious aspects

War - Religious aspects

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction; Truth; America: A Case Study in the Difference between Truth and Reality; One Truth; A Time-Honored Truth; A Religious People; Uncovered Truth; The Truth Shall Never Dissuade; America the Bellicose; Chapter One: War; Violence and Society; Violence and Spirituality; Violence and The Scapegoat; Violence of God; War and Religion; War and the State; A Parsimonious God; War and the Warrior; War is Beautiful; War is Sublime; War is Love; A Love of Killing; War as Mysticism; War is Holy; Chapter Two: From the Beginning of Humanity; Original Human

Primitive Religion and the Birth of the Violent GodSacrifice; Babylonian Religion: Creation from Destruction; The Greek and Roman Religions; Greek Gods and War; God and Sacrifice; Aristotle and Plato; Rome; Mars; Chapter Three: Judaism; Jewish Scripture; An Atmosphere Pervaded with Violence; The Jewish God and His Battered Spouse; Sacrifice, Martyrdom and the Will of God; Israel: God, Land and the Other; "just war"; Judaism Today - More of the Same?; How the Jewish Bible Affects Christianity; Sacrifice; And Echoes in Islam; Chapter Four: Christianity; Jesus - a Message of Peace?

The Early Church FathersMartyrdom; The First Council of Nicaea and the Fall of Christianity; "just war"; Error Has No Right; The Holy Roman Empire; Augustinian Influence on Later Christian Thinkers; The Principle of Double Effect; Protestant War; The Crusades; The Inquisition; Christianity Today; Chapter Five: Islam; Early Islam; Scriptures; Jihad; A



Blood Covenant; Islam Today; A "just war"; Chapter Six: Hinduism; Bhagavad Gita; Violent Imagery; "Just war"; Hindus Today; Sikhism; Chapter Seven: Buddhism; Violent Imagery; Buddhist Liturgy; More Violent Imagery; Buddhism and the State

"just war" TheoryJapan; Exceptionalism; The Sword and the Lotus; Monks and War; Sugimoto; Zen, the State and a "just war"; China; The Tao of Slaughter; Violent Imagery; Chinese Buddhism and the Korean War; India; Violence in Indian Buddhism; Ashoka; Reverberations: Violence in Indian Buddhism Today; Tibet; Born of Violence and Violent Still; Thailand; Buddhist Apocalypse; Military Monk; Sri Lanka; Mongolia; Et Tu, United States?; Final Thoughts; Chapter Eight: War as Love; Abraham's Curse; Love, War and Sacrifice in the 21st Century; America: A Case Study in Sacred Violence

America: The New IsraelSacrificing for God and Country; American History: Our Violence is God's Will; George W. Bush, September 11, 2001, and America's 21st-Century Crusade; Bush's Minions: You're Either With Us or Against Us; God, War and the American Worldview; On the Fringe?; Epilogue; War as Mysticism: Redux; Religion and Violence: A Reconsideration; Sacrifice Revisited; Will, Violence and God's Purpose; War, God and the Act of Creation; Le Plus ça Change; War the Boundless; Without sacred violence, would society be possible?; A Conclusion; Violence and Chaos; Endnotes; Bibliography

Sommario/riassunto

This unsettling book reviews specific instances of 'holy war' as proposed in the holy books of the major faith traditions, and illustrates how bellicose, war-like language is used to explain the spiritual quest. The author proposes that this intermingling of war and spirituality prepares the population for the coming of war. War as spiritual practice appears inevitable, due to this religio-violent  education which is woven through all faith traditions. The institutional blending of the sacred and human aggression appear to be fundamental to human society. The second section of the book particu