San Antonio College Library

The notion of Jihad ("Holy War") is very much alive in the Islamic world, and plays a prominent political role. In the West, Jihad is often associated with violence and fanaticism. Muslims, however, emphasize that the real meaning is "effort toward a religiously commendable aim" and that it can be applied to both defensive warfare and peaceful activities for the sake of religion. The aim of the present book is to elucidate the concept of Jihad. It...

Instructs readers about the religious contexts that nurtured ideas regarding statecraft, international law, and the aims and limits of peace and warfare--Introduction.

Religious and political conflicts have long been intertwined. In this episode, religious activists in Kosovo, Jordan, and the ancient city of Bethlehem are trying to bridge the divide between warring faiths-and to lay the foundation for peace.

"Mass murder, ethnic cleansing, genocide, hatred, rage: all these have taken on new meaning for Americans after the horrors of September 11, 2001. But that infamous day was not one on which the world changed. Rather, it was the day the United States joined the rest of the world in a struggle far older than most Americans realize. Suddenly, remote spots like Bosnia or Kosovo have become much easier to understand, places that have faced death and destruction...

"In eight parts, Andrew Bostom's collection depicts Islam's justification for jihad and its worldwide impact that extended over thirteen centuries of war. He reproduces quotations from the Qu'ran and the Hadith, along with Qu'ranic exegesis by the greatest classical and modern commentators, that provide a rationale for jihad - disproving the argument that only through radical misinterpretation has jihad war been justified. Classical writings from...

Presents the thesis that war and violence have become appealing and addictive and that the idea of peace can gain a stronghold once indiviuals become more conscious of its power and actively engage in bringing peace into their own lives.

The authors review different Christian teachings on war, and then analyze available options within pacifist and just war perspectives. They address four specific issues: humanitarian intervention, arms proliferation, responses to terrorism (law enforcement, military, and peacemaking), and the Iraq War. The ethics debate proceeds with reference to specific conflicts, and the in-depth historical reviews of the NATO incursion into Kosovo, the Persian...

"Cutting across religion, law, and political theory, The Cross, the Sword, and the Eagle presents a comprehensive just war theory that prioritizes justice over peace and is based on time-honored Christian traditions. The book advocates a new way of defining when the use of force is legitimate, striving for the higher morality of achieving the greater good. In this book, Davis Brown argues that the just war tradition drives the contemporary military...

"The Crisis of Islam ranges widely through thirteen centuries of history, but in particular it charts the key events of the twentieth century leading up to the violent confrontations of today: the creation of the state of Israel, the Cold War, the Iranian Revolution, the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan, the Gulf War, and the September 11 attacks on the United States." "While hostility toward the West has a long and varied history in the lands of Islam,...