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
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