Under Caesar's Sword: How Christians Respond to Persecution

Description

The global persecution of Christians is an urgent human rights issue that remains underreported. This volume presents the results of the first systematic global investigation into how Christians respond to persecution. World-class scholars of global Christianity present first-hand research from most of the sites of the harshest persecution as well as the West and Latin America. Their findings make clear the nature of persecution, the reasons for it, Christian responses to it - both non-violent and confrontational - and the effects of these responses. Motivating the volume is the hope that this knowledge will empower all who would exercise solidarity with the world's persecuted Christians and will offer the victims strategies for a more effective response. This book is written for anyone concerned about the persecution of Christians or more generally about the human right of religious freedom, including scholars, activists, political and religious leaders, and those who work for international organizations.

Daniel Philpott is Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. Timothy Samuel Shah is Director for International Research at the Religious Freedom Research Project of the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University, Washington DC. He is also Research Professor of Government at Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion and a Senior Director with the Religious Freedom Institute.

'As editors Daniel Philpott and Timothy Samuel Shah show in this immensely valuable volume, nearly three-quarters of the world's people live in nations burdened with religious discrimination or worse, and eighty percent of the violence and persecution is directed against Christians. Followers of Jesus Christ are the most commonly repressed, attacked and violated religious group not just in history, but right now in countries across the globe. The editors have done a superb job of gathering together comprehensive proof of anti-Christian persecution from a wide range of regions and political circumstances, and the overall effect is stunning - but also unimpeachable. Anyone sincerely interested in human rights and dignity needs to read and share this book.' Charles J. Chaput, Archbishop of Philadelphia '... the book's value as a rubric for understanding Christian responses to persecution, and religious persecution more broadly, allayed skepticism about the focus on Christian persecution. There is much that non-Christian and even non-religious victims of political and social persecution around the world can learn from this volume. Its chapters spanning Africa, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, and even the still largely Christian West provide comprehensive information ...' M. Christian Green, Journal of Church and State '... a robust and welcome addition to our understanding of contemporary Christianity worldwide.' Jason Bruner and David C. Kirkpatrick, Journal of World Christianity