Confronting Genocide

Judaism, Christianity, Islam

Contributions by Paul R. Bartrop Florida Gulf Coast University, Donald J. Dietrich, Mohammad Omar Farooq, Zev Garber Emeritus Professor and Chair of Jewish Studies, Los Angeles Valley College, Leonard B. Glick, Stephen R. Haynes, Henry F. Knight, Leo Kuper, Paul Mojzes Rosemont College, emeritu, James Frazier Moore, Chris Mato Nunpa, David Patterson, John T. Pawlikowski, Gary A. Phillips, Carol Rittner R.S.M., The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, John K. Roth, Richard L. Rubenstein Edited by Steven Leonard Jacobs Aaron Aronov Chair of Jud

Publication date:

16 July 2009

Length of book:

368 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

Dimensions:

242x162mm
6x10"

ISBN-13: 9780739135884

Confronting Genocide: Judaism, Christianity, Islam is the first collection of essays by recognized scholars primarily in the field of religious studies to address this timely topic. In addition to theoretical thinking about both religion and genocide and the relationship between the two, these authors look at the tragedies of the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, Rwanda, Bosnia, and the Sudan from their own unique vantage point. In so doing, they supply a much needed additional contribution to the ongoing conversations proffered by historians, political scientists, sociologists, psychologists, and legal scholars regarding prevention, intervention, and punishment.

Chapter 1 Introduction: Genocide in the Name of God: Thoughts on Religion and Genocide
Part 2 Part I. Textual Warrants for Genocide
Chapter 3 1. Theological Warrants for Genocide
Chapter 4 2. The Last Uncomfortable Religious Question? Monotheistic Exclusivism and Textual Superiority in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as Sources of Hate and Genocide
Chapter 5 3. A Sweet-Smelling Sacrifice: Genocide, the Bible, and the Indigenous Peoples of the United States, Selected Examples
Chapter 6 4. The Accountability of Religion in Genocide
Chapter 7 5. More than the Jews: His Blood Be Upon All the Children: Biblical Violence, Bosnian Genocide, and Responsible Reading
Part 8 Part II. Religion and Mass Violence: Empirical Data and Case Studies
Chapter 9 6. Religion and Genocide
Chapter 10 7. Jihad and Genocide: The Case of the Armenians
Chapter 11 8. Islam and Genocide: The Case of Bangladesh in 1971
Chapter 12 9. The Genocidal Twentieth Century in the Balkans
Chapter 13 10. "Death was everywhere, even in front of the church": Christian Faith and the Rwandan Genocide
Part 14 Part III. Alternative Readings of Troubling Texts: Religion as a Force against Violence
Chapter 15 11. Getting Rid of the G-d of Abraham: A Prerequisite for Genocide
Chapter 16 12. The Ten Commandments, the Holocaust, and Reflections on Genocide
Chapter 17 13. Coming to Terms with Amalek: Testing the Limits of Hospitality
Part 18 Part IV. Theologies and Practices of Reconciliation
Chapter 19 14. Post-Shoah Restitution of a Different Kind
Chapter 20 15. The Holocaust, Genocide, and the Catholic Church
Chapter 21 16. Catholic Perspectives on Holocaust and Genocide: Critical Appraisal
Chapter 22 17. Terror out of Zion: Making Sense of Scriptural Teaching
Chapter 23 18. Rape, Religion, and Genocide: An Unholy Silence

Religion has too often been a cause of genocide. The essays in this collection examine why, and then propose how religious texts and traditions could be re-interpreted so that religions could become forces against genocide.