How Christian people have framed the meaning of violence within their faith tradition has been a complex process subject to all manner of historical, cultural,

Ancient Christianity had an ambivalent stance toward violence. Jesus had instructed his disciples to love their enemies, and in the first centuries Christians w

Employs the sectarian battles which divided African Christians in late antiquity to explore the nature of violence in religious conflicts.

The Crusades. The Conquest of the Americas. U.S. Slavery. The Jewish Holocaust. Mention of these events evokes a variety of responses from Christians, including

Focusing on the 4th and 5th centuries, Michael Gaddis explores how various groups employed the language of religious violence to construct their own identities,