Holy War: The Blood of Abraham [Paperback]

David Anderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 7, 2004

Holy War The Blood of Abraham addresses the question: What is the role of Judeo/Christian/Islamic belief in present world conflict? It exposes the underlying flaws that are built into each of the three religious belief systems and argues that culpability for this conflict extends to all three. It is a book that calls on its readers; Christians, Jews and Muslims, to look within for answers to the most important questions facing our Age.The book includes thirty nine religious/philosophical reflections that will be of interest to the Progressive Christian, Reformed Jew and moderate Muslim reader.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The author as a geopolitical scientist and a theologian has studied the role of religious belief as an underlying force directing human behavior.

Product Details

• Paperback: 262 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (July 7, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595314562
• ISBN-13: 978-0595314560
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,526,215 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

In his three books, the author brings together a wide range of professional interests, namely; theology, philosophy, geo politics and history. For over forty years, as an international risk manager in several of America's largest institutions, he studied the underlying forces driving the geopolitical decision making process. In his books he discusses the origins and interconnection of Jewish, Christian and Muslim beliefs and how these beliefs are now drivng the geo political process.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The true message of Jesus - not what's in Catholic Church, October 15, 2004

By 

D. Webb (Anaheim, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Holy War: The Blood of Abraham (Paperback)

I learned a lot from this book and it had an impact on me. Its main theme can be summed up in four steps:
1) the Old Testament reveals God as
a. separate from man,
b. personified with love, hate, anger, and forgiveness,
c. favoring "chosen" people over others and will eventually choose only them in an apocalypse,
2) Jesus, on the other hand, revealed god as
a. within us,
b. only about love and forgiveness,
c. loving everyone without discriminating any chosen ones,
3) Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have the Old Testament in common, and
4) extremist behavior against "others" is a consequence of fundamentalist interpretations of Old Testament revelations.

Much of the book is also about the teachings of Jesus as revealed not only in the New Testament but also in books that were omitted from the Bible. These books were discovered in 1945 in a six foot urn buried in a hillside near Nag Hammadi, Egypt. They cover Gnosticism and include the Gospel of Thomas which teaches that each individual can find God within himself. These books were omitted when the Roman Catholic Church, in the fourth century, established the definition of Christianity. The author explains how the writings of Apostle Paul played a significant role in keeping Old Testament teachings that were refuted by Jesus.

Where the book fails is in fulfilling its stated purpose which is to discuss the origins of Islamic terrorism. It says Judaism and Christianity are no longer culpable since the Crusades, European colonialism, and World War II have ended. Besides many far reaching assumptions and some self-contradictions, the bias against Islam is irrationally strong. The author does eventually admit this and implies that this bias is necessary in order to be "politically correct" and get published.