A középkor lenyomata: a szent háború

Far from examining whether religion (in general) causes violence or violence finds religion, the following pages examine how Christianity has been a condition of possibility for armed violence over the longue durée. In other words, how the theology specific to Western Christendom has imprinted specific traits on war, not only despite the Protestant-Catholic divide, but also over the “secularizing” divide that putatively separates the premodern West (Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages, Early Modern Europe with its North American off shoot) from Modernity. That God
is simultaneously the Old Dispensation god of War (and retribution) and the New Testament god of Peace (and mercy) has engendered a paradoxical dialectic between these terms. That Scripture can be read according to several spiritual senses alongside its letter can bring together in conjunction violences against external enemies, against vices and vicious humans, and against darker powers. This in turn explains the common conjunction between war, reform, and purge.
Finally, the notion of a History that culminates in Apocalypse and Last Judgment also explains the rhythms of armed, purgative violence: The War at the End of Times can be typified by a war in the normally peace-seeking time of the New Testament, which in turn means that this conflict can take the traits of the End Times, no holds barred violence.