Making War In The Name Of God

by Christopher Catherwood

Book Overview

As religious zeal and sectarian strife set the opening years of the new millennium ablaze, they ushered in the latest chapter of a story that began centuries ago. From Bali to Beirut, we have inherited an idea that is as old as religion itself: killing in the name of God. In this engrossing book, renowned historian Christopher Catherwood vividly recounts a saga of passion, prejudice, and imperialism that laid the foundation for our own troubled age...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0806527862
• ISBN13: 9780806527864
• Release Date: October 2008
• Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
• Length: 226 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.9" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Thought Provoking

Historian Christopher Catherwood sets out to explore the roots of religious war (particullarly between Christianianity and Islam) in a manner that is both concise but very informative. I couldn't hardly put the book down and desired to keep reading; it was just that interesting. Catherwood focuses on several primary topics. The rise of Islam is dicussed as well as intra-Islamic conflict. I feel Catherwood correctly cites Islam as iniating religious war against the West. However, Catherwood doesn't let his own religion off the hook in his analysis of the Crusades in the Middle East, the Baltic, and in the Languedoc. The author shows how the battles of Talas and Mazikert effected the decline of Byzantium and the rise of the Seljuk and later Ottoman Turks even though the first battle was an Islamic triumph over a T'ang Chinese army. The French Wars of Religion and the Thirty Years' War are discussed in relation to Europe's history of religious conflict. The rise and fall of the Ottomans is examined and the Balkan Conflicts of the 1300s-1990s are appropriately used as a virtual microcosm of religious warfare in general. There is a conclusion dealing with the modern world and there is also mentioning of religious violence in other religious such as the persecution of Muslims and Christians by radical Hindus in India in recent years. Overall this book graphically but very readably portrays what can happen when religious wars break out and the long term repercussions of such conflicts. The author being a Christian himself doesn't fall into the trap of some rabid anti-religious zealots on the issue and is quick to point out not only the inconsistencies between religious cruelty and Christ's teachings but also mentions the appaling death tolls of secular totalitarianism in the last century. While I highly recommend the book and find it both fascinating and disturbing, I felt it should have included more. The cover features a star of David but Jewish religious warfare is hardly discussed. Some instances such as massacres of Jews in Europe are mentioned but I felt the author could also have discussed the darker sides of Judaism ranging from Bar Kohba in the second century to the massacre of Jerusalem's Christians in the Seventh century (while a Sassainian Persian general looked on) to modern Zionist terrorists. Likewise, while Islam has seen religious war practically since its beginnings, the reality had existed long before. The Zurvanist Zoroastrians of Sassainian Persia not only were major enemies of Roma but also had persecuted Christians themselves at times. Once Roma/Byzantium and Armenia became Christian, a religious element was added to the long standing conflicts which meant even more bloody warfare. This not only led to increased Christian persecution but also retaliatory attacks on Zoroastrians by the Byzantines. I also felt uncertain about the author's premise of Westphalia ending religious war in Europe proper. In