Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Jihad and Genocide (Studies in Genocide: Religion, History, and Human Rights): Volume 1

This book examines the relationship between jihad and genocide, past and present. Richard L. Rubenstein takes a close look at the violent interpretations of jihad and how they have played out in the past hundred years, from the Armenian genocide through current threats to Israel. Rubenstein's unflinching study of the potential for fundamentalist jihad to initiate targeted violence raises pressing questions in a time when questions of religious co-existence, particularly in the Middle East, are discussed urgently each day. Review In Jihad and Genocide, Richard Rubenstein extends his previous analyses of group conflict. The book features clear and evocative writing, careful historical research, and above all, the kind of insight that comes from paying attention to the human propensity to clothe the will to power with high ideals. Indeed, Richard Rubenstein's analysis reminds us that we often do our worst when most convinced of the rightness of our cause. Rubenstein's work should be read by all those concerned with the issues presented by the war on terror: Muslims, Christians, Jews; religious and non-religious people alike.--John Kelsay, Florida State University; author of Arguing the Just War in Islam Extremely well-written, but what is written is frightening. Richard Rubenstein has linked extremist Jihad with genocidal intention in a way that readers have suspected, but never directly known. He refrains from opinion and uses the extreme jihadis' own words to make his case. Their message leaves no doubt of their intentions. Compelling and a must read for every informed citizen.--Steven K. Baum, editor of the Journal for the Study of Antisemitism Richard Rubenstein, who has long been a wonderfully provocative intellectual gadfly among religious thinkers, offers a challenging new study of radical Muslims. Insisting that political threats of terrorists cannot be separated from the religious passions that inflame them, Rubenstein argues that government policy will fail if the religious, totalitarian, and antisemitic dimensions of radical Islam are not understood and addressed.--Susannah Heschel, Dartmouth College, author of Aryan Jesus About the Author Richard L. Rubenstein is President Emeritus and Distinguished Professor of Religion at the University of Bridgeport. Rubenstein is the author of After Auschwitz, which is widely cited as initiating the discussion of the Holocaust in contemporary religious thought. He is also the author of The Cunning of History, The Age of Triage, and Approaches to Auschwitz.