The (De)Legitimization of Violence in Sacred and Human Contexts

1: Introduction.- 2: Violence and The Cross: The Affinity Between Theories of Atonement and Christian Attitudes Towards War and Peace.- 3: Facing Down Fear: John Chrysostom's Answer to Violence.- 4: The Parable of the Wedding Protest: Matthew 22:1-14 and Nonviolent Resistance.- 5: Refuting the Violent Image of God in the Book of Joshua 6-12.- 6: The Conflict of War: Unresolved Challenges and Sentiments in Jewish Sources.- 7: Remodeling the Paradigm of Religious Inference and Decision Making in Islam: Converting Dogmatism into a Positive and Vibrant Human Activity.- 8: Violence or its De-Legitimization? Conflicting Views from the Hindu World.- 9: Speak Dhamma but Carry a Big Stick: Violence in Early Buddhist Discourse.- 10: War and Religious Discourse in the Russia-Ukraine Conflict.- 11: The Quest for Radical Islamism and the War on Terror in Indonesia.- 12: The Violent Wahhabism and the Use of Islamic Texts to Justify Armed Violence Against Muslims and Non-Muslims.-13: Embracing Nonviolence: Pope Francis and Catholic Teaching on War.- 14 Covert Violence: Counting Cultural Trauma at the Intersection of ATR, Islam and Neoliberalism in Africa.- 15: The Myth of Islam as Inherently Violent.- 16: "Heads Will Roll:" Decapitations in Mughal Painting - Persecution or Punishment?.- 17: Islamophobia and the Far-Right in Modern Germany, 2008-2018: An Introduction.- Concluding Remarks.

Muhammad Shafiq is Executive Director of the Hickey Center and holds the IIIT Interfaith Studies Chair at Nazareth College, USA.

Thomas Donlin-Smith is Professor and Chair of Religious Studies at Nazareth College, USA.