The just war and jihad : violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam / edited by R. Joseph Hoffmann.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-299).

Introduction: The God of Hosts / R. Joseph Hoffmann -- Some Central Problems in Just War Theory / Judith Lichtenberg -- The Obscenity of War and the Imperative of the Lesser Evil / J. Harold Ellens -- Just War and Jihad: Positioning the Question of Religious Violence / R. Joseph Hoffmann -- Understanding Violence: The New Copernican Revolution / Charles K. Bellinger -- Who Broke Their Vow First? The "Three Vows" and Contemporary Thinking about Jewish Holy War / Reuven Firestone -- Rethinking Religious Violence: Fighting Over Nothing / Hector Avalos -- Violence in the Text: Violence through the Text / Bahar Davary -- Critics of Just War Theories: Raven and Muste / Robert B. Tapp -- Religious Warfare on the Global Battlefield / Pauletta Otis -- Holy Terror / Regina M. Schwartz -- "In Vain Have I Smitten Your Children": Augustine Defines Just War / Joyce E. Salisbury -- Sacrificial Heroics: The Story of Abraham and Its Use in the Justification of War / Carol Delaney -- Religion and Violence: War, Tyrannicide, Terrorism / Gabriel Palmer-Fernandez -- Vitoria's Just War Theory: Still Relevant Today? / Laura Purdy -- CSER Protocol on Religion, Warfare, and Violence.

In the long history of the monotheistic tradition, violence - often bloody with warfare - have not just been occasional but defining activities. Since 9/11, sociologists, religious historians, philosophers and anthropologists have examined the question of the roots of religious violence in new ways, and with surprising results. In November 2004, the Committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion brought together leading theorists at Cornell University to explore the question whether religions are viral forms of a general cultural tendency to violent action. Do religions, and especially the Abrahamic tradition, encourage violence in the imagery of their sacred writings, in their theology, and their tendency to see the world as a cosmos divided between powers of good and forces of evil? Is such violence a historical condition affecting all religious movements, or are some religions more prone to violence than others? The papers collected in this volume represent the independent and considered thinking of internationally known scholars from a variety of disciplines concerning the relationship between religion and violence, with special reference to the theories of 'just war' and 'jihad', technical terms that arise in connection with the theology of early medieval Christianity and early Islam, respectively.