Laying Down the Sword: Why We Can't Ignore the Bible's Violent Verses

By Philip Jenkins

Philip Jenkins delivers a fearless examination of the darkand violent verses of the Bible—and a call for us to read them anew in pursuitof a richer, more honest faith. From “one of America’s best scholars ofreligion” (The Economist), this daring exploration of the Scripture’smost difficult passages forces us to confront and accept the violence that wasas integral to the formulation of Christianity’s message as it was for manyother of the world’s religions, and shows us how a full understanding of theScripture will allow us to finally move towards a more peaceful, spiritualworld. Readers of Bart Ehrman’s God’s Problem,John Selby Spong’s The Sins of Scripture, andJenkins’s own The Jesus Wars, as well as every Christian eager to squarethe recurrent violence of the Scripture with Christianity’s enduring message ofpeace, will find these difficult questions explored in full in Laying Downthe Sword.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Oct 25, 2011
• ISBN: 9780062098559

Philip Jenkins

Philip Jenkins, the author of The Lost History of Christianity, Jesus Wars, and The Next Christendom, is the Distinguished Professor of History and member of the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University. He has published articles and op-ed pieces in The Wall Street Journal, New Republic, The Atlantic Monthly, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe and has been a guest on top national radio shows across the country.

Reviews for Laying Down the Sword

[Mohamed Hussein · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great work at looking back at Christianity past violent dark history, number one record holder for mass slaughter and genocidal tendencies, those adherents must have been inspired by those violent verses.

[Emmanuel Alemaka · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The whole idea of the book is based on a false premise; the 'violent verses' of the Bible are not being ignored - they are recognized and and given their place; they belong to the past "old things are passed away, behold all things are now new", they have not been expunged and yet they have not inspired violence in Christians. There are people who are not Christians but who have a propensity towards violence who quote from anywhere including the Bible in order to justify their actions. Trying to draw a comparison with Islam is itself entirely erroneous!