Religion and Terrorism: The Use of Violence in Abrahamic Monotheism provides theoretical analysis of the nature of religious terrorism and religious martyrdom and also delves deeply into terrorist groups and beliefs in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Religious terrorism is found in all three of the great monotheistic faiths, and while the public is most aware of Islamic terrorism, Jewish and Christian faiths have extremist groups that warp their teaching -in ways unrecognizable to most adherents- to support terrorism. This work will be of interest to scholars in religious studies, political science, and sociology.

Maluku in eastern Indonesia is the home to Muslims, Protestants, and Catholics who had for the most part been living peaceably since the sixteenth century. In 1999, brutal conflicts broke out between local Christians and Muslims, and escalated into large-scale communal violence once the Laskar Jihad, a Java-based armed jihadist Islamic paramilitary group, sent several thousand fighters to Maluku. As a result of this escalated violence, the previously stable Maluku became the site of devastating interreligious wars. This book focuses on the interreligious violence and conciliation in this region. It examines factors underlying the interreligious violence as well as those shaping post-conflict peace and citizenship in Maluku. The author shows that religion-both Islam and Christianity-was indeed central and played an ambiguous role in the conflict settings of Maluku, whether in preserving and aggravating the Christian-Muslim conflict or supporting or improving peace and reconciliation. Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork and interviews as well as historical and comparative research on religious identities, this book is of interest to Indonesia specialists, as well as academics with an interest in anthropology, religious conflict, peace and conflict studies.

Crusades covers seven hundred years from the First Crusade (1095-1102) to the fall of Malta (1798) and draws together scholars working on theatres of war, their home fronts and settlements from the Baltic to Africa and from Spain to the Near East and on theology, law, literature, art, numismatics and economic, social, political and military history. Routledge publishes this journal for The Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East. Particular attention is given to the publication of historical sources in all relevant languages - narrative, homiletic and documentary - in trustworthy editions, but studies and interpretative essays are welcomed too. Crusades appears in both print and online editions. Issue 4 of Crusades kicks off with Graham Loud's reflections on the failure of the Second Crusade and also features Susan Edgington's administrative regulations for the Hospital of St John in Jerusalem dating from the 1180s.

The sixteenth century, which heralded the end of the Middle Ages and the commencement of the Early Modern Era, was a time of tremendous religious upheaval and social ferment. The nebulous conglomeration of movements often referred to as the "Reformation" led to a wave of bloodshed and persecution which engulfed most of Europe for at least a hundred years. The present volume offers a translation of a particularly graphic literary portrayal of tortures and atrocities committed against Catholics during that time-the Speculum Haereticae Crudelitatis [The Mirror of Heretical Cruelty], by Arnold Havens (1540-1610). Havens was a Carthusian monk, an accomplished historian and scholar, and a prolific author. The Mirror of Cruelty is a remarkable and unique literary achievement, describing in gruesome and chilling detail an extensive catalogue of disturbing, inhuman and often bizarre acts of abuse. Most of these have not been available in any English-language sources until now, or have been presented only in abridged and bowdlerized forms. Havens drew the overall plan of his work from another book which enjoyed a wide, underground circulation at the time-the notorious Theatrum Crudelitatum [Theatre of Cruelties], by Richard Verstegan, a kind of nightmarish picture-book of atrocities committed against Catholics. A selection of illustrations from that book are included in this volume.

This is the first English translation of Robert the Monk's Historia Iherosolimitana, a Latin prose chronicle describing the First Crusade. In addition to providing new and unique information on the Crusade (Robert claims to have been an eyewitness of the Council of Clermont in 1095), its particular interest lies in the great popularity it enjoyed in the Middle Ages. The text has close links with the vernacular literary tradition and is written in a racy style which would not disgrace a modern tabloid journalist. Its reflection of contemporary legends and anecdotes gives us insights into perceptions of the Crusade at that time and opens up interesting perspectives onto the relationship of history and fiction in the twelfth century. The introduction discusses what we know about Robert, his importance as a historical source and his place in the literary tradition of the First Crusade.

The subject of the crusades is enormous, covering 700 years from the First Crusade (1095-1102) to the fall of Malta (1798) and comprising scholars working on theatres of war, their home fronts and settlements from the Baltic to Africa and from Spain to the Near East and on theology, law, literature, art, numismatics and economic, social, political and military history. Although in almost every one of the many topics into which the subject is divided there is lively debate and development, there has not been a journal dedicated to the history of the crusades since the Revue de l'Orient latin, which flourished a century ago. the Latin East, which, together with Ashgate, has launched this journal. Because the greatest need appears to be for more historical sources - narrative, homiletic and documentary - to be made available in trustworthy editions, editorial preference will be given to the publication of texts in both European and oriental languages, although interpretative material will also be welcomed. Crusades also incorporates the Society's bulletin.

Crusades covers seven hundred years from the First Crusade (1095-1102) to the fall of Malta (1798) and draws together scholars working on theatres of war, their home fronts and settlements from the Baltic to Africa and from Spain to the Near East and on theology, law, literature, art, numismatics and economic, social, political and military history. Routledge publishes this journal for The Society for the Study of the Crusades and the Latin East. Particular attention is given to the publication of historical sources in all relevant languages - narrative, homiletic and documentary - in trustworthy editions, but studies and interpretative essays are welcomed too. Crusades appears in both print and online editions. This first edition of the journal includes contributions from Jonathan Riley-Smith refecting on the number of knights who participated in the First Crusade and the number of casualties and Peter W. Edbury on Fiefs and Vassals in the Kingdom of Jerusalem: from the Twelfth Century to the Thirteenth.

"Persecution, Polemic, and Dialogue" follows the interaction between Jews and Christians through the ages in all its richness, complexity, and diversity. This collection of essays analyze anti-Semitism, perceptions of the Other, and religious debates in the Middle Ages and proceed to consider modern and contemporary interactions, which are marked by both striking continuity and profound difference. These include controversies among historians, the promise and challenge of interfaith dialogue, and the explosive exchanges surrounding Mel Gibson's film on the passion. This volume will engage scholars, students, and any reader intrigued by one of the longest and most fraught intergroup relationships in history.

A Westerner's travels among the persecuted and displaced Christian remnant in Iraq and Syria teach him much about faith under fire. Gold Medal Winner, 2018 IPPY Book of the Year Award Silver Medal Winner, 2018 Benjamin Franklin Award Finalist, 2018 ECPA Christian Book Award Inside Syria and Iraq, and even along the refugee trail, they're a religious minority persecuted for their Christian faith. Outside the Middle East, they're suspect because of their nationality. A small remnant of Christians is on the run from the Islamic State. If they are wiped out, or scattered to the corners of the earth, the language that Jesus spoke may be lost forever - along with the witness of a church that has modeled Jesus' way of nonviolence and enemy-love for two millennia. The kidnapping, enslavement, torture, and murder of Christians by the Islamic State, or ISIS, have been detailed by journalists, as have the jihadists' deliberate efforts to destroy the cultural heritage of a region that is the cradle of Christianity. But some stories run deep, and without a better understanding of the religious and historical roots of the present conflict, history will keep repeating itself century after century. Andreas Knapp, a priest who works with refugees in Germany, travelled to camps for displaced people in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq to collect stories of survivors - and to seek answers to troubling questions about the link between religion and violence. He found Christians who today still speak Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic, the language of Jesus. The uprooted remnant of ancient churches, they doggedly continue to practice their faith despite the odds. Their devastating eyewitness reports make it clear why millions are fleeing the Middle East. Yet, remarkably, though these last Christians hold little hope of ever returning to their homes, they also harbor no thirst for revenge. Could it be that they - along with the Christians of the West, whose interest will determine their fate - hold the key to breaking the cycle of violence in the region? Includes sixteen pages of color photographs.

In the immediate years and months before the outbreak of religious war in 1562 the growth of Protestantism in France had gone unchecked, and an overriding sense of Protestant triumphalism emerged in cities across the land. However, the wars unleashed a vigorous Catholic reaction that extinguished Protestant hopes of ultimate success. This offensive triggered violence across the provinces, paralysing Huguenot communities and sending many Protestant churches in northern France into terminal decline. But French Protestantism was never a uniform phenomenon and events in southern France took a rather different course from those in the north. This study explores the fate of the Huguenot community in the area of its greatest strength in southern France. The book examines the Protestant ascendancy in the Huguenot stronghold of Montauban through the period of the religious wars, laying open the impact that the new religion had upon the town and its surrounding locality, and the way in which the town related to the wider political and religious concerns of the Protestant south. In particular, it probes the way in which the town related to the nobility, the political assemblies, Henry of Navarre and the wider world of international Calvinism, reflecting upon the distinctive cultural elements that characterised Calvinism in southern France.

This selection of over 200 texts, nearly all appearing for the first time in English translation, provides a close-up look at the crusades against the Hussite heretics of 15th-century Bohemia, from the perspective of the official Church - or at their struggles for religious freedom, from the Hussites' own point of view. It also throws light on the meaning of the crusading movement and on the nature of warfare in the late Middle Ages. There is no single documentary account of the conflict, but the riveting events can be reconstructed from a wide range of contemporary sources: chronicles, sermons, manifestos, songs, bulls, imperial correspondence, military and diplomatic communiques, liturgy, military ordinances, trade embargos, epic poems, letters from the field, Jewish documents, speeches, synodal proceedings, and documents from popes, bishops, emperors and city councils. These texts reveal the zeal and energy of the crusaders but also their deep disunity, growing frustration and underlying fears - and likewise the heresy, determination and independence of the Hussites. Five times the cross was preached and the vastly superior forces of the official church and the empire marched into Bohemia to suppress the peasant armies. Five times they were humiliated and put to flight.

These studies span the period from the origins of the crusading movement in the 11th century until its final active phase during the Renaissance. Some of the articles spring from Norman Housley's work on crusading against Christian heretics, mercenary companies and lay powers which were involved in conflict with the Church. Others reflect his interest in the way crusading developed after the fall of the Holy Land to the Muslims in 1291. A third group looks at other forms taken by religious warfare in Europe during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Certain themes recur throughout. One is the variety of ways in which war in God's name was portrayed and justified. Another is the conflict of interest brought about by the diversity of crusading in the period from c.1200 onwards. Above all, the author shows the complexity, longevity and significance of a movement whose impact on medieval society was massive and whose repercussions were profound.

Professor Jean Richard is the doyen of crusade historians. Although also well-known as one of the most distinguished historians of Burgundy, he has through publications which have been appearing for over half a century established himself as the greatest living scholar working on crusading and the Latin East. His book on twelfth-century Tripoli, published in 1945, is still the standard work on the county. In the 1950s he, and Joshua Prawer, provided a revolutionary approach towards the constitution and institutions of the kingdom of Jerusalem. He went on to pave the way for an entirely new understanding of the kingdom of Cyprus. In the 1960s he was one of a few historians who were sign-posting a more empathetic view of the ideology of crusading and the motivation of crusaders, and he developed his ideas further in recent monographs on Saint Louis and on the crusades in general. His work on Catholic missions to Asia and the role of the papacy in those enterprises is generally regarded as setting standards which few can approach. To celebrate his eightieth birthday thirty-nine colleagues have contributed articles in fields which themselves illustrate Professor Richard's breadth of interest: the crusades, the military orders, and the Latin settlements on the Levantine mainland and the island of Cyprus.

This text focuses on the legal status of the Jews within the Roman Empire and the changes that this underwent when the empire became Christian. Conflicts between Roman and Jewish jurisdiction form an important theme, while particular studies deal with questions of conversion, the observance of the Sabbath and Festivals, Hadrian's decree prohibiting circumcision, and with the treatment given to the Samaritans. In the field of family law, Profesor Rabello looks at issues to do with the patria potestas, family courts, marriage and divorce, and it is in these areas, he would hold, that a basic understanding can be found of how the early Catholic Church treated Jews and Judaism.

Jonathan Fox's new work provides the first systematic, empirical study of the role that religion plays in ethnic violence. Ethnoreligious Conflict in the Late Twentieth Century critiques the existing literature on religion and ethnic conflict, then presents and analyzes original quantitative data gathered from a variety of sources. Fox draws upon the Minorities at Risk model of ethnic conflict to develop and test a dynamic and comprehensive theory of religion and conflict. He applies this theory to resurgent conflicts between ethnic groups of different religions--from the Iranian revolution and the Afghan struggle against the Soviets in the 1980s to the ongoing Middle East conflict--to pinpoint the ways in which religion has become intertwined in, and lent legitimacy to, conflicts in the contemporary world.

The first comprehensive analysis of the dynamic interpenetration of religion and war in the West from C4 to early C13. Warfare in all histories and cultures shows evidence of the driving need to sanctify the cause, from the personal devotions of individuals to the grand designs of the architects of battle. In his important study David Bachrach takes a first thorough look at warfare in western Europe and its interaction with Christianity, from the initial appearance of the pacifist sect to the medieval popes' certainty of the crusades as "holy war". Religion played a necessary and crucial role in the conduct of war during late Antiquity and the middle ages. Military discipline and morale depended in significant part on religious rites carried out by priests and soldiers in the field and by their supporters on the home front. Just as importantly, warfare in the late Roman empire and its western successor states had a profound impact on Christian religious practice and doctrine: liturgical developments - in prayer, communion, confession, penance - can be linked to the military needs of the Christian Roman world and the Christian states of medieval Europe. Even more profound was the transformation of Christianity itself from pacifism to a faith which justified and eventually glorified killing on behalf of the Church. This volume provides the first comprehensive analysis of the dynamic interpenetration of religion and war in the West during almost a thousand years, fromthe accession of Constantine the Great in the early fourth century until the eve of the Fourth Lateran Council in the early thirteenth. With its often new interpretations of a vast array of sources, Religion and the Conduct ofWar has much to say to historians and others on the nature of war and its relationship with faith. DAVID S. BACHRACH is Associate Professor of History, University of New Hampshire.

Eight hundred years ago, the Cathars, a group of heretical Christians from all walks of society, high and low, flourished in what is now the Languedoc in Southern France. Their subversive beliefs brought down on them the wrath of Popes and monarchs and provoked a brutal 'Crusade' against them. The final defeat of the Cathars was horrific with mass burnings of men, women and children in the village of Montaillou in the Pyrenees.

1) This book looks at the issue of violence through religion and literature, and addresses the question of violence in the context of religion, particularly in Sri Lankan Sinhala Buddhism with special reference to Sinhala and Tamil ethnic issues. 2) It fills a major gap by bringing analysis of Sri Lankan literature. 3) This book will be of interest to departments of literature and languages, South Asian literature, literary criticism and theory, linguistics, cultural studies, philosophy, religion, Buddhist studies, diaspora studies, and Sri Lankan literature and sociology.

Grounded in nine years of ethnographic research on the al Muhajiroun/Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah movement (ALM/ASWJ), Douglas Weeks mixes ethnography and traditional research methods to tell the complete story of al Muhajiroun. Beginning with three core events that became a primer for radical Islamic political thought in the UK, Al Muhajiroun, A Case Study in Islamic Activism traces the development of the movement form its incipient beginnings to its current status. Based on his extensive interaction with the group and its leaders, Weeks contextualizes the history, beliefs, methods, and differences between ALM/ASWJ, al Qaeda, and the Islamic State so that the group and the threat it poses is comprehensively understood.

Voices of Freedom: The Middle East and North Africa showcases essays from activists, journalists, novelists, and scholars whose areas of expertise include free speech, peace and reconciliation, alterity-otherness, and Middle Eastern and North African religions and literatures. Co-edited by TCU colleagues Rima Abunasser and Mark Dennis, the volume is meant to serve as a vehicle for giving dignity and depth to the peoples of these regions by celebrating courageous voices of freedom trying to respond to fundamental, often devastating, changes on the ground, including the Arab Spring, the Syrian refugee crisis, and the rise of the Islamic State. Writing in both the first- and third-person, essayists offer deeply moving portraits of voices that cry out for freedom in chaotic, and often violent, circumstances. Voices of Freedom is aimed at college classes that address the many ways in which freedom intersects with politics, religion, and other elements in the societies of these dynamic and diverse regions. It will serve as a valuable primary source for college teachers interested in exploring with their students the struggle for freedom in non-Western and transnational cultural contexts. The volume is also meant to attract other audiences, including readers from the general public interested in learning about inspirational people from parts of the world about which Americans and other English-speaking peoples are generally unfamiliar.

Women's role in crusades and crusading examined through a close investigation of the narratives in which they appear. Narratives of crusading have often been overlooked as a source for the history of women because of their focus on martial events, and perceptions about women inhibiting the recruitment and progress of crusading armies. Yet women consistently appeared in the histories of crusade and settlement, performing a variety of roles. While some were vilified as "useless mouths" or prostitutes, others undertook menial tasks for the army, went on crusade with retinuesof their own knights, and rose to political prominence in the Levant and and the West. This book compares perceptions of women from a wide range of historical narratives including those eyewitness accounts, lay histories andmonastic chronicles that pertained to major crusade expeditions and the settler society in the Holy Land. It addresses how authors used events involving women and stereotypes based on gender, family role, and social status in writing their histories: how they blended historia and fabula, speculated on women's motivations, and occasionally granted them a literary voice in order to connect with their audience, impart moral advice, and justify the crusade ideal. NATASHA HODGSON is Lecturer in Medieval History at Nottingham Trent University..

This book springs from the Bristol-Sheffield Hallam Colloquium on Contemporary Antisemitism at the University of Bristol in September 2015. International experts in Religious Studies, Law, Politics, Sociology, Psychology, and History came together to examine the complexities of contemporary antisemitism. Recent attacks on Jews in European cities have increased awareness of antisemitism and, as this collection shows, such attacks cannot be separated from wider geo-political and ideological factors. One distinct feature of antisemitism today is its demonization of the State of Israel. Older ideas also feature Jews being blamed for all the world's ills, thought to possess almost supernatural levels of power and wealth, and conspiring to harm the non-Jewish other. These and other ideas forming the background to antisemitism in Europe and North America are unpacked in this book with a view to understanding - and thereby combatting - contemporary antisemitism. A key concern is how unifying features might be isolated amid the diverse manifestations of this oldest of hatreds.

This book offers a study of the Jewish community in Kielce and its environs during World War II and the Holocaust: it is the first of its kind in providing a comprehensive account of Kielce's Jews and their history as victims under the German occupation. The book focuses in particular on Jewish-Polish relations in the Kielce region; the deportation of the Jews of Kielce and its surrounding areas to the Treblinka death camp; the difficulties faced by those attempting to help and save them; and daily life in the Small Ghetto from September 1942 until late May 1943.

First translation into English of key chronicle for events of the Albigensian Crusade and the attack on heresy, including the siege of the Cathar stronghold, Montsegur. The Albigensian Crusade, which forms the main subject of William of Puylaurens' Chronicle, was a defining episode in the history of France. Launched in 1209 by Pope Innocent III, it was directed against the aristocracy of southernFrance (especially the Counts of Toulouse) who were accused of protecting heresy, and especially Catharism, a dualist heresy which represented a major threat to the Catholic Church. The Crusade ended in 1229 with the defeat of Count Raymond VII of Toulouse. It was followed in the 1230s by the establishment of the Papal Inquisition against heresy. The long-term outcome of the Crusade was the defeat of Catharism, and the establishment of French Royal powerin the region. William of Puylaurens' Chronicle, here translated into English for the first time, is one of the main contemporary accounts of these events. It describes heresy in the south of France in the early 13th century; provides a narrative of the Crusade; and then outlines the growth of the Inquisition and the sustained attack on heresy which followed, including the siege of the Cathar fortress of Montsegur in 1243-44. This translation is accompanied by an introduction, full notes, appendices, and a bibliography.W.A. SIBLY is a former Domus Exhibitioner in Classics at Balliol College, Oxford; M.D. SIBLY read history at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. They have also translated Peter of Les Vaux de Cernay's History of the Albigensian Crusade (also published by Boydell & Brewer).