Religious violence
May 5th, 2009 by AriI’ve been listening to a series of lectures by Berel Wein in the car this week. Overall they’re pretty crappy as Wein’s lectures on history contain a lot of musar and little actual history. However he made one very interesting point which, although depressing, is certainly worth taking to heart. He commented that there is no harm caused like the harm caused in the name of god. When causing harm in the name of god, there is no restraint, and no equivocation due to moral restraint – just unmitigated violence performed with a clear conscience.
May 6th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
One of the primary roles of history in the Jewish worldview is for its mussar application; the Ralbag, for example, concludes each section of his commentary on Nach with an extensive dissertation on the lessons to be learned from the preceding narrative.