God of Battles: Holy Wars of East and West - Softcover

Partner, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0006384277 ISBN 13: 9780006384274

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1998

Synopsis

‘Required reading for anyone wishing to think more clearly about what Islam, and its fundamentalists, mean for the contemporary world’ A.C. Grayling, Financial Times

Peter Partner examines the ways in which the concept of holy war – the jihad of the East and the crusade of the West – came to acquire its symbolic power, and how this still affects the modern world. He shows how the ideal of the crusade permeated Western attitudes and beliefs, and discusses the modernity or otherwise of today’s Islamic fundamentalist movements, which so alarm the Western world. He reveals how present-day Islamic reformers have actually borrowed the vocabulary of fundamentalism from Western sources, and discusses ways in which they have interpreted (and occasionally put into practice) the idea of holy war. Above all, God of Battles investigates the reasons behind the fear which Islamic fundamentalism excites in the West, and warns against allowing views that ultimately derive from eleventh-century propaganda to influence us today.

About this title

Review

‘Excellent. Should be required reading for the Middle East desks in the State Department and the Foreign Office’
Andrew Wheatcroft, Sunday Times

‘Partner’s conclusions will make it impossible for his readers ever again to swallow the bromides of waffling politicians or saloon-bar know-alls’
Frank McLynn, Glasgow Herald

‘Admirable. As an appeal to understanding it is greatly to be commended’
David Edgar, Irish Times

From the Back Cover

What makes a war 'holy', and who decides that it is? In this wide-ranging and thought-provoking book, Peter Partner examines the origins of holy war, the ways in which it requires symbolic power, and how it still effects the modern world. From the pre-Christian era to the Gulf War, from Deuteronomy to 'The Satanic Verses', 'God of Battles' places the 'jihad' of the East and the crusade of the West in their historical context, and warns against allowing views derive from crusading war propaganda to affect our judgements today.

Partner shows how the ideal of the crusade, 'God's war', came to permeate medieval Christendom and how powerfully it influenced later Western societies. He investigates today's Islamic fundamentalist movements, the meaning they attach to 'jihad' and the occasions on which they have practised it. He reveals how, while traditional in some respects, they are very modern in others, borrowing much of their political vocabulary from Western sources. Above all, 'God of Battles' examines the reasons behind the fear which Islamic fundamentalism excites in the West, and argues that the only way to deprive holy war of its frightening aura of fanaticism is to look afresh at its religious framework and its political and social history.

"Admirably bridges the divide between scholarly and popular writing... His sensitivity to the diversity and complexity of Islamic thought is particularly welcome... As an appeal to understanding, it is greatly to be commended"
DAVID EDGAR, 'Irish Times'

"Fascinating...provides an invaluable historical context for understanding the resurgence of hostility between nations and religious groups in the modern world"
RAFICQ ABDULLA, 'Church Times'

"Partner's conclusions will make it impossible for his readers ever again to swallow the bromides of waffling politicians or saloon bar know-alls"
FRANK MCLYNN, 'Glasgow Herald'

"Excellent... should be compulsory reading for the Middle East desks in the State Department and the Foreign Office" ANDREW WHEATCROFT, 'Sunday Times'

"Partner is almost uniquely to dissect and denounce the propaganda element with which holy wars have always been surrounded...a most useful addition to the still woefully small library that exists to help rather than hinder the West's understanding of Islam and of the long conflictive interaction between East and West"
RICHARD GOTT, 'Literary Review'

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0006384277
• ISBN 13: 9780006384274
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 496