The Warrior and the Pacifist: Competing Motifs in Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

This book looks at two contradictory ethical motifs-the warrior and the pacifist-across four major faith traditions-Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam-and their role in shaping our understanding of violence and the morality of its use. The Warrior and the Pacifist explores how these faith traditions, which now mutually inhabit our life spaces, bring with them across the millennia the moral teachings that have traveled from prehistoric humanity, embedded in the beliefs, rituals, and institutions socially constructed by humans to deal with ultimate concerns, core aspects of daily personal and social life, and life transitions.