Early Medieval Colloquium: Philippe Buc

The Utrecht Centre for Medieval Studies invites for an Colloquium with Prof. dr. Philippe Buc (Institut für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung).

He will speak about Theology and the shaping of violence in the West

Attention to some basic axioms of Christian theology enables the historian to account for some (not all) traits specific to violence in the West, not only in Late Antiquity and in the Middle Ages, but also beyond. These axioms (including the paradox that God is both a god of war and a god of peace) and the dynamics of biblical exegesis have shaped holy war and terror in ways arguably culturally specific. Philippe Buc will discuss some of the theses developed in his forthcoming Holy War, Martyrdom, and Terror: Christianity,  Violence and the West, ca. 70 C.E. to the Iraq War (University of Pennsyvania Press, 2015).