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The Holy War Idea in Western and Islamic Traditions. By James Turner Johnson. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997. 185p. $45.00 cloth, $16.95 paper.
This study compares the development of Christian and Islamic conceptions of holy war from antiquity to the present. Johnson nicely brings out several different meanings of the idea. A holy war may not mean a specific call to arms, for example, but a much more general command to strive for faithfulness (the "greater" form of jihad according to the prophet Muhammad). Holy war can also mean a war fought by God himself, by his duly authorized representatives, or by participants who are ritually or morally holy. While holy war is commonly thought of as an offensive war to spread religion or to punish deviance, Johnson draws our attention to the fact that "the people of the Book" have emphasized the defensive character of most wars of religion. (Unfortunately, this fact provides only limited comfort, as both traditions have often expanded their definition of "defensive" to justify essentially offensive and punitive wars.)
Both Christian and Islamic traditions begin from the idea of two worlds, one ordered toward God, the other not. As Johnson explains, for Christianity the distinction is primarily theological and motivational: the City of God cannot fully exist on earth, even in the church, but its members can be identified as those who are moved by love of God. For Islam, the distinction is primarily juridical and behavioral: Muslims are charged with replacing dar al-harb,...