Religion, Law and War

Catalog description

This course will examine wars of religion and religious views of war. We are living through an era fraught with religious warfare – wars animated by religious conflict and wars that use religious abuse as weapons to demoralize and subdue the enemy. The course will focus on three major religious traditions (Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism) and set in dialogue their respective views of war, assess their contributions to the contemporary laws of war, and examine the particular historical episodes of religious conflict – as well as contrary episodes of religious toleration. This course will count as a Signature Three Core Course.