"Examines economics and environmentalism as competing public religions that derive from, and continue, a Christian worldview; argues that debates over global warming and other environmental issues are ultimately based on theological differences between their respective adherents"--Provided by publisher.

The Crusades and their impact on today's world.

“A compelling tale of how this spiritually and politically charged area of the globe has long been a place of pivotal battles” (Library Journal). Today’s Arab-Israeli conflict is merely the latest iteration of an unending history of violence in the Holy Land—a region that is unsurpassed as witness to a kaleidoscopic military history involving forces from across the world and throughout the millennia. Holy Wars describes three thousand years of war in the Holy Land with the unique approach of focusing on pivotal battles or campaigns, beginning with the Israelites’ capture of Jericho and ending with Israel’s last full-fledged assault against Lebanon. Its chapters stop along the way to examine key battles fought by the Philistines, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Crusaders, and Mamluks—the latter clash, at Ayn Jalut, comprising the first time the Mongols suffered a decisive defeat. The modern era saw the rise of the Ottomans and an incursion by Napoleon, who only found bloody stalemate outside the walls of Akko. The Holy Land became a battlefield again in World War I when the British fought the Turks. The nation of Israel was forged in conflict during its 1948 War of Independence, and subsequently found itself in desperate combat, often against great odds, in 1956 and 1967, and again in 1973, when it was surprised by a massive two-pronged assault. By focusing on the climax of each conflict, while carefully setting each stage, Holy Wars examines an extraordinary breadth of military history—spanning in one volume the evolution of warfare over the centuries, as well as the enduring status of the Holy Land as a battleground.

Religions are reemerging in the social, political, and economic spheres previously occupied and dominated by secular institutions and ideologies. In the wake of crises exposing the limits of secular modernity, religions have again become significant players in domestic and international politics. At the same time, the Catholic Church has sought a "holy alliance" among the world's faiths to recentralize devout influence, an important, albeit little-noticed, evolution in international relations. Holy Wars and Holy Alliance explores the nation-state's current crisis in order to better understand the religious resurgence's implications for geopolitics. Manlio Graziano looks at how the Catholic Church promotes dialogue and action linking world religions, and examines how it has used its material, financial, and institutional strength to gain power and increase its profile in present-day international politics. Challenging the idea that modernity is tied to progress and secularization, Graziano documents the "return" or the "revenge" of God in all facets of life. He shows that tolerance, pluralism, democracy, and science have not triumphed as once predicted. To fully grasp the destabilizing dynamics at work today, he argues, we must appreciate the nature of religious struggles and political holy wars now unfolding across the international stage.

Surveying the period from the rise of Islam in the early seventh century to the present day, Just Wars, Holy Wars, and Jihads is the first book to investigate in depth the historical interaction among Jewish, Christian, and Muslim ideas about when the use of force is justified. Grouped under the three labels of just war, holy war, and jihad, these ideas are explored throughout twenty chapters that cover wide-ranging topics from the impact of the early Islamic conquests upon Byzantine, Syriac, and Muslim thinking on justified war to analyzing the impact of international law and terrorism on conceptions of just war and jihad in the modern day. This study serves as a major contribution to the comparative study of the ethics of war and peace.

To some, Islamic Fundamentalism means the restoration of a true religion. To others, it is a politics that stands apart from capitalism and socialism. To many Westerners, particularly in the past decade, it has come to constitute a threat to established order and international security. There can be no disputing the phenomenal importance of Islamic Fundamentalism today. Holy Wars, first published in 1989, comprises a non-partisan narrative that takes account of both the socio-cultural values expressed in Fundamentalism, and its ...