Summary
Title: The Just War and Jihad: Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Author: edited by R. Joseph Hoffmann
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1591023718
Pro:
• Interesting arguments and ideas from a wide range of perspectives and academic fields
Con:
• Hardly anything about jihad, relatively speaking
Description:
• Collection of essays about the relationships between religion, warfare, and violence
• Examines primarily the "Just War" tradition from Christianity
Book Review
Internal debates over what constitutes a "just war" from a Christian perspective have raged for centuries with no apparent resolution in sight. These debates themselves do, however, offer interesting insights into the nature of Christian theology, Christian violence, and Christian society generally. Questions about the relationship between religion and violence have taken on an especially serious tone since September 11, 2001, with people wondering whether religion is necessarily violent or if perhaps religion is the only hope for peace.
R. Joseph Hoffmann helps us understand more about these debates by editing the book The Just War and Jihad: Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This book grew out of a 2004 conference held by the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion with essays written by important sociologists, historians, philosophers, and even military veterans. They help create a multifaceted and nuanced volume which raises as many questions as it attempts to answer. Most of the essays are generally critical of religion and religion's role in warfare, but this criticism does not become mere religion bashing. It is, instead, a serious attempt to come to grips with how religion is used to motivate or justify violent warfare even as it sets down rules to limit the horror of such warfare.
The biggest failing of the book is the relative absence of much information about jihad. The concept appears in the title and readers should expect to find more material discussing the nature and development of jihad within Islam — an especially important issue in the world today with so much Muslim violence being committing under the banner of jihad. I'm not sure if they intended to have more about this and in the end didn't manage it, or if the term was simply added to attract more interest to the book. Either way, the inclusion of jihad in the title is a misnomer because just about all of the discussion involves the nature and development of the "just war" tradition within Western and Christian societies. Fortunately, that's an interesting and relevant topic in itself, so readers can certainly get a lot out of this book.
The convergence of religion and politics into violent warfare has been an intractable problem for centuries and it only seems to be getting worse. This is something which affects everyone, directly or indirectly, and the essays in this volume should help people to better comprehend what's going on and how the problems may be addressed. You won't find all of your questions answered here, but you will find different ways to look at and approach those questions so that you can come to your own conclusions.
