Reuven Firestone (California/Zürich); Holy War in Judaism.

Holy War in Judaism. From Militancy to Quietism and Back Again. Many people have peculiar impression about Judaism and war: “Jews don`t fight“ is one. Another is: “The God of the Jews is a violent and vengeful God (as opposed to the “God of love“ of the Christians), and that God demands bloody wars.“ The truth is more complicated than either of these impressions. In fact, Judaism began as a very militant religion. Jews were considered prized mercenaries during the Second Temple period and occupied garrisons for the Persian emperor in Egypt and elsewhere. BudJudaism changed radically in late Antiquity and is going through another radical change in the modern period. Why the Changes, and how can a religion alter its position on such a basic issue of war and violence? These are issues that we will study in this session. Porf. Dr. Reuven Firestone (University of Southern California/Zürich)