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At the outset it is necessary to examine the origins and development of holy war in the Old Testament. Here aspects of war practice form the basis of an extensive conceptual and ideological presentation. Sacral ordinances govern the inauguration, conduct and conclusion of battle. The sacral nature of war is seen in the characterisation of the warrior-state as one of ritual purity and consecration. Essential for the raison d'etre of holy war is the portrayal of Yahweh as warrior. The ideology of holy war is epitomised in the concept: "the battle is the Lord's". The Old Testament presentation reaches its climax in the liturgical emphasis of 2 Chronicles 20. That holy war could be revived at a much later period is seen in the historical circumstances of the Maccabaean Revolt. In the accounts of First and Second Maccabees there is evidence of the taking up of the constant elements of the Old Testament holy war tradition. A central feature for the writer of First Maccabees is the pre-battle assembly at Mizpah. The contingent of Hasidaeans in the Maccabaean army indicates a revival of the concept of the consecrated warrior. In the Maccabaean narratives great importance attaches to war-speech, prayer and appeal for divine help. As a military manual the Qumran Battle Scroll is without parallel in Hebrew literature. Most notably the compilation combines a sacerdotal emphasis with practical details of military organisation and procedure. An eschatological tone predominates. The sacral character of the war and cultic requirements for the warriors are indicated. Divine intervention is also evident. Motifs and concepts of the Old Testament holy war tradition as well as aspects of ancient war practice are taken up. At the same time substantial development and extension of the Old Testament material is presented. The following features are unique; the elaborate system of trumpet signals, the combined' use of trumpets and horns in battle, the provision of inscriptions, the role of priests in battle, hymnic and liturgical material, and a cosmic-apocalyptic dimension which portrays a battle-force of angels and men. Certain aspects of the Scroll's emphasis may reflect the historical situation in the Maccabaean/Hasmonaean period. P.R. Davies has shown that much of the literary material of the Scroll has its source and background in the Maccabaean and post-Maccabaean period. Examination of First and Second Maccabees reveals a number of definite links between Maccabaean warfare and 1 QM.

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This thesis seeks to contribute to scholarship on the great Swiss theologian, Karl Barth, and to the ongoing discussion of theology and politics by examining Barth's view of war. / There has so far been only one monograph on Barth's view of war: John Howard Yoder's Karl Barth and the Problem of War (1970). Whereas Yoder's work is restricted to Barth's general discussion of war in his Church Dogmatics, and to a partial glance at his response to World War Two (WWII) and the Cold War, this thesis expands and completes the picture by examining Barths, overall theo-ethical framework, and his attitude to World War I. / Pushing a little further into Barth's theology, I start by re-evaluating the significance of Barth's key ethical concept of the Grenzfall ('extreme case')---particularly his use of it in relation to the problem of war. Briefly, rather than being a 'cop-out' clause (Yoder's thesis), the Grenzfall serves as a descriptive, conceptual short-hand for Barth's contextually-engaged, prophetic stance with regard to war. This is shown most clearly in his responses in word and deed to World War One (WWI---ignored by Yoder), WWII and the Cold War. / Following my examination of the Grenzfall, I chart Barth's path through these three situations: No substantial work has previously been done on Barth's response to WWI, largely because much of it is articulated in a series of sermons which have not yet been translated. Uncovering Barth's thought in these sermons---hitherto largely ignored in both dogmatic and ethical scholarship---I compare Barth's early, middle and later responses to concrete, historical wars, and relate these to his use of the Grenzfall in the ethical discussion of his Dogmatics.

The purpose of the research paper is to study and analyze the criticism expressed by Montaigne on different doxic themes that pervade the social discourse of his time. To do so, we consider two problems connected and coextensive to the second part of the XVI century. / The first one that extends over the first two chapters analyzes the way by which the religious wars of the era have found their justification in God. In the first chapter, we try to analyze the discursive vector of the divine ire whereas in the second chapter, we investigate the relationship between the tide of a battle and the elect sign that is supposed to give to the winner. / The second problem, that deals with various attempts of pacification, forms the third chapter of this paper. It focuses on the efforts undertaken by some "well intentioned" jurists to end "fratricidal" wars by royal by-laws (edits) whose unfortunate results are to stir up hatred among different ideological factions. / The fourth chapter is a reflection on some criticism stated by XVI century thinkers who perceived actual wars as lacking religious foundation, and even as a carnage where nobody really knew why the fighting was going on. / Finally, we put forward some hypotheses on the specificity of the Essais in the sociodiscursive context of this age.

Rules of engagement, ethics of war, and codes of chivalry are all phrases which remind one of human attempts to rein in and regulate what is perhaps the most anarchic and illogical of all human activities: organized war. The role of the great religions of the world both in propagating war through crusades and jihads as well as their attempts at transcending its savagery through images of miles Christianus or the pious ghazi has also been much discussed. The aim of this thesis is to study the ethics of war in the context of Islamic societies in the Early Middle Ages from several complementary perspectives. Our sources for the period vary greatly from decade to decade and from region to region. This has often led historians of ideas and mentalities to concentrate on one aspect to the exclusion of others. This is particularly so in the case of ethics of war where most of the argument seems to concentrate on a few passages from the Qur'an, supplemented by some quotations from manuals of ḥadith and commentaries on them in the legal textbooks of the different religious schools. That all these are crucial for an understanding of Muslim attitudes and reactions to war throughout centuries is beyond dispute. But it remains, nevertheless, a lop-sided view: neglecting large areas of debate and speculation in literature, philosophy, and mystical meditations, presented as fully-fledged arguments or as occasional remarks and observations embedded in the extant texts from the period. By evaluating these scattered sources and listening to the different voices heard through them, I hope to show some of the different attitudes and responses to the ethics of war and avoid the monolithic and doggedly timeless approach which, at its worst and most extreme, envisages a non-existing consensus among the Muslims from the rise of Islam to the beginning of this new century and neglects the evidence of regional traditions and innovative thinkers by relying solely on a handful of quotes.

The growing number of terrorist attacks waged by Islamic fundamentalists has led to an increasing desire to understand the nature of jihad. These attacks have led to a renewed sense of urgency to find answers to such questions as why these attacks occur, and who they are waged against. Towards this end I turn to examine the political philosophy of four Muslim theologians. Specifically I look at the political philosophy of Sayyid Qutb, Shah Walai Allah Dihlawai, Ibn Rushd (Averroes), and Muhammad Sa'id al-Ashmawy. I find that the notion of jihad is very inconclusive. Furthermore, the question of jihad revolves largely around the question of whether or not individuals can be reasoned with, and secondly whether religion should be compelled upon individuals.

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No description available.

This thesis will trace the origin and development of the term "Sacred War" in the corpus of extant Greek literature. This term has been commonly applied by modern scholars to four wars which took place in ancient Greece between the sixth and fourth centuries B. C. The modern use of "the attribute "Sacred War" to refer to these four wars in particular raises two questions. First, did the ancient historians give all four of these wars the title "Sacred War?" And second, what justified the use of this title only for certain conflicts? In order to resolve the first of these questions, it is necessary to examine in what terms the ancient historians referred to these wars. As a result of this examination, it is clear that only two of the modern series of "Sacred Wars" (the so-called Second and Third Sacred Wars) were actually given this title in antiquity. The other two wars (the so-called Second and Third Sacred Wars), although they were evidently associated by the ancients with the "Sacred Wars," were not given this attribution. Consequently, the habit of grouping all four wars together as "Sacred Wars" is modern. Nevertheless, the fact that the ancients did see some connection between these wars does justify this modern classification to some degree. Once this conclusion had been reached, it became possible to proceed to the second of the problems presented in this thesis, namely the justification for the application of the title "Sacred War" to two specific conflicts. In order to achieve this aim, those conflicts labelled "Sacred Wars" by the ancient historians were compared to two categories of test cases: the other two conflicts classified as "Sacred Wars" by modern scholars and conflicts which share elements in common with "Sacred Wars" but which are not given this attribution by ancient or modern authorities. In the course of this comparison, I discovered that little differentiated the so-called "Sacred Wars" from the non-"Sacred Wars" and that all of these latter conflicts appear equally worthy of the title as those which were in fact given this attribution. The deciding factor in the classification of a certain conflict as a "Sacred War," as a result, lies not in the specific elements making up its constitution but rather in the political circumstances surrounding it. The two conflicts labelled by the ancients as "Sacred Wars" were given this title by contemporary powers in order to justify military interference in the political affairs of other states which might otherwise have been considered unnecessary. Thus, the term "Sacred War" arose originally as the result of an effective propaganda campaign. / Arts, Faculty of / Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies, Department of / Graduate