Page 267 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV
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1568 berkshire encyclopedia of world history
steeped in paradoxes. He was at once at the apex of the
Religion and War social order and a potential threat to that order. Indeed,
the contradiction here, which is reflected throughout
ar and religion are universal historical phe- Indo-European religious beliefs, is inherent in the pro-
Wnomena, occurring in nearly all places and all fession of arms: it involves a social institution dedicated
time periods. It should not be surprising, then, to find to the destruction of society” (Littleton 1987, 345).
that the two have a long, complex, and varied histori- The histories of many of the major world religious
cal relationship—one which is sometimes antagonistic, traditions evidence a continuing struggle to come to
at other times mutually supportive, and most of the grips with this paradox. In the process, the phenome-
time deeply ambivalent. non of war has come to play a major role in defining,
Warrior gods played a central role in the pantheons of distinguishing and, at times, dividing particular reli-
many early religions as civilizations struggled to subdue gions, while the phenomenon of religion has come to
the cosmos and, often, their neighbors.The war god Indra give meaning and inspiration to war.
ranks among the most prominent Vedic divinities; the
warrior god Marduk is the hero of the Babylonian cre- Judaism: Debating the
ation epic, “Enuma Elish”; the war gods Ares and Mars Warrior Ethic
populate a host of Greek and Roman myths; and the war Judaism was founded in the ancient Middle East where
god Thor wages battle in ancient Norse mythology. warfare was the norm. The earliest Jewish texts, which
In many ancient civilizations—including Indo-Aryan, probably stem from the mid-to-late second millennium
Greek, Egyptian, Babylonian, Hittite, Roman,Aztec, Crow, BCE, reflect this violent reality. In Genesis, Yahweh (the
Norse, and Celtic—war was considered a fact of life and ancient Hebrew term for god) is said to have told Abra-
heroes were divinized. Religious epics emerged sur- ham: “Know this for certain, that your descendants will
rounding the exploits of human (if at times legendary) be aliens living in a land that is not theirs; they will be
war heroes such as Arjuna (Hindu), Achilles (Greek), slaves, and will be held in oppression there for four hun-
Arthur (Celtic), and Siegfried (Norse). Being a warrior dred years. But I will punish that nation” (Genesis
was socially prestigious in cultures such as Indian (where 15:13–24).Yahweh promises the Jews the lands of “the
the warrior class, the Kshatriya, ranked high in the Hindu Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites,
caste system), Crow (where the warrior’s raiding activities Rephaim,Amorites, Cannanites, Gigrashites, Hivites, and
provided him with access to valued economic goods, Jebusites” (Genesis 15:19–21). Much of early Jewish his-
most particularly horses), and ancient Babylonian (where tory consists of the ensuing, often exceedingly bloody,
male warriors were often rewarded with the society’s battles between the Jews and these various peoples.The
most desirable female partners). Even great spiritual lead- book of Joshua in the Hebrew Bible records the story of
ers could, at times, take up the sword and lead armies (for the conquest of Canaan in which, at God’s bidding, the
example, Joshua in Judaism and Muhammad in Islam). Israelites burn entire enemy cities to the ground, slaugh-
However, even in cultures that valued war and war- tering all inhabitants—men, women, and children alike.
riors, the religious attitude toward them was often one of As the biblical scholar Millard Lind writes, “Yahweh is a
ambivalence. In the Hindu caste system, the priest (Brah- God of war....Violent political power is thus a central
man) ranked above the warrior. Holy men enjoyed a sim- issue in Israel’s experience of Yahweh” (Lind 1980, 24).
ilarly elevated social standing in Crow and Babylonian Yet existing side-by-side with these violent episodes is a
cultures. In Greek mythology, war was as often seen as the deep-seated Jewish reluctance to embrace the warrior life.
source of tragedy as it was of glory. According to anthro- Speaking of Abraham, Moses, and other seminal figures in
pologist C. Scott Littleton,“The role of the warrior. . . was the history of Judaism, the nineteenth century German