Religion and War from Antiquity to Early Modernity - by Irene Polinskaya & Alan James & Ioannis Papadogiannakis (Hardcover)

About the Book

"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, and 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, which in most historical societies was religious"--

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

"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

"Religion and War from Antiquity to Early Modernity is a model of collaborative scholarship, well-suited for scholars across history, theology, and religious studies. It offers not only rich empirical insights and case studies but also an invitation to reconsider the place of belief, ritual, and symbolic authority in the conduct of war, as well as in the construction of political power across time" --Religious Studies Review

About the Author

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.