Validating ViolenceViolating Faith: Religion, Scripture and Violence (Pact Series) by William Emilsen

This is a journey where 12 scholars examine the topic of violence. They all grapple with the problem of how to deal with the phenomenon of violence when it appears within the scriptures and traditions of particular religious faiths. They each approach the hermeneutical questions that lie at the heart of the three religions within the book of how to deal with the violent words in their scripture?

They all recognize the extent of violent language, of imagery, story and ideology that are hidden deep within the texts. It begins with description of what is in the text, noting and detailing what violence is there and where it is present. Then follows an evaluation, in terms of how to make sense of this presence of violence in the texts, trying to find pointers and clues in how to handle and understand the texts. This leads to the editors trying to bring the threads together in some form of collective view a synthesis of the ideas and come to some conclusions as to the use of violence or the abuse of violence in scripture and in the faith tradition of each of the three great religious traditions.