Animosity, the Bible, and Us: Some European, North American, and South African Perspectives

Animosity in its various forms, including enmity, war, homicide, domestic violence, religious hostility, and retaliation, is a perennial problem that has plagued every form of interpersonal and international relationship since the dawn of human existence. The essays in this volume, offering perspectives from three continents, examine how animosity is understood and presented in the biblical text and its historical and literary contexts. The authors recognize at the same time that the Bible itself and how it has been used have sometimes contributed to the problem of animosity and thus seek to glean any insights that might address this problem in the contemporary world, which today is a pressing global concern. The contributors are Henk Bakker, Paul B. Decock, John T. Fitzgerald, J. J. Fritz Kruger, Outi Leppa, Dirk G. van der Merwe, Marius Nel, Eric Peels, Jeremy Punt, Fika J. van Rensburg, Rainer G. H. Reuter, Herrie F. van Rooy, Eben Scheffler, and Eveline van Staalduine-Sulman.