Author Reuven Firestone- Holy War in Judaism- The Fall and Rise of a Controversial Idea

Author Reuven Firestone is a professor of Medieval Judaism and Islam at Hebrew Union College and Senior Fellow at the Center for Religious and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California. 

His book Holy War in Judaism is the first book to consider how the concept of "Holy War" disappeared from Jewish thought for almost 2000 years, only to reemerge with renewed vigor in modern times.

In this book Reuven Firestone identifies, analyzes and explains the historical, conceptual and the intellectual processes that revived holy war ideas in modern Judaism.  The book serves as a case study of the way in which one ancient religious concept onced deemed irrelevant or even dangerous was successfully revived in order to fill a pressing contemporary need.  It also helps to clarify the current political and religious situations in Israel and the Middle East.