This book examines religion in Israeli society: what it is and how it functions. Here is a clear picture of how Judaism provides a matrix of continuity for Israeli society notwithstanding a wide diversity of beliefs and practices.

There are many ancient West Asian stories that narrate the victory of a warrior deity over an enemy, typically a sea-god or sea dragon, and his rise to divine kingship. In The Conflict Myth and the Biblical Tradition, Debra Scoggins Ballentine analyzes this motif, arguing that it was used within ancient political and socio-religious discourses to bolster particular divine hierarchies, kings, institutions, and groups, as well as to attack others. Situating her study of the conflict topos within contemporary theorizations of myth by Bruce Lincoln, Russell McCutcheon, and Jonathan Z. Smith, Ballentine examines narratives of divine combat and instances of this conflict motif. Her study cuts across traditional disciplinary boundaries as well as constructed time periods, focusing not only on the Hebrew Bible but also incorporating Mesopotamian, early Jewish, early Christian, and rabbinic texts, spanning a period of almost three millennia - from the eighteenth century BCE to the early middle ages CE. The Conflict Myth and the Biblical Tradition advances our understanding of the conflict topos in ancient west Asian and early Jewish and Christian literatures and of how mythological and religious ideas are used both to validate and render normative particular ideologies and socio-political arrangements, and to delegitimize and invalidate others.

Technology, Society, and Conflict comprehensively studies and systematically highlights technological inequalities as a source of conflict in digital development while developing an economic and legal approach to resolving them.

An exploration of how the theory and practice of integrated peacebuilding can be applied across diverse disciplines

The field of peace and conflict studies is rich in secular and faith traditions. At the same time, as a relatively new and interdisciplinary field, it is ripe with innovation. This volume, the first in the series Peace Studies: Edges and Innovations, edited by Michael Minch and Laura Finley of the Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA), is edited by top Canadian and US scholars in the field and captures both those traditions and innovations, focusing on enduring questions, organizing and activism, peace pedagogy, and practical applications. From the historical focus on disarmament, ending warfare and reducing militarism to the civil rights, women’s rights, and environmental movements, peace activists and pedagogues have long been important agents of social change. Authored by US and Canadian academics, educators, and activists, the chapters in this book demonstrate, how scholars and practitioners in the field are using the important knowledge, skills and values of their foremothers and forefathers to address new issues, integrate new technologies, and make new partners in their efforts to create a more just and humane world.