Human Violence

Read by the author. This volume in Biblical Theology for Life series dives deeply into the topic of human violence. Before exploring what the Bible says about violence, Old Testament scholar Helen Paynter sets out the contours for the study ahead by addressing the various definitions of violence...

Violence is part and parcel of human history and of human nature. It is one of our most distinctive traits, the one thing that all cultures and societies, across time, share in common. It has defined not only the ways in which individuals relate to each other, but also how collective entities and states have interacted with each other over the millennia. All societies are violent and all individuals have the capacity for violence. However, not all societies and not all individuals are equally violent, and nor does violence exist with the same intensity across cultures.

The Zondervan Biblical and Theological Lectures series provides a unique audio learning experience. Unlike a traditional audiobook's direct narration of a book's text, Blessed Are the Peacemakers Audio Lectures include high quality live-recordings of college-level lectures that cover the...

Books about the origins of humanity dominate bestseller lists, while national newspapers present breathless accounts of new archaeological findings and speculate about what those findings tell us about our earliest ancestors. We are obsessed with prehistory—and, in this respect, our current era is no different from any other in the last three hundred years. In this coruscating work, acclaimed historian Stefanos Geroulanos demonstrates how claims about the earliest humans not only shaped Western intellectual culture, but gave rise to our modern world.

Restores the region’s fraught history of repression and resistance to popular consciousness and connects the United States’ interventions and influence to the influx of refugees seeking asylum today. At the center of the current immigration debate are migrants from Central America fleeing...

Police who engage in torture are condemned by human rights activists, the media, and people across the world who shudder at their brutality. Stark revelations about torture by American forces at places like Guantanamo Bay have stoked a fascination with torture and debates about human rights. Yet despite this interest, the public knows little about the officers who actually commit such violence. Just Violence reveals the moral perspective of perpetrators and how they respond to human rights efforts.

Human history mirrors the history of climate change. Human origins, for example, can be traced to five million years ago when the climate of East Africa became progressively hotter and drier. This caused the lush tropical jungles to disappear and be replaced by arid plains and savannahs. Our pre-human ancestors learned to exploit those new ecosystems by gathering the seed-bearing grasses, nuts, and tubers that thrived in these semi-arid conditions. Also, by foraging in the heat of the day, proto-humans could minimize unwelcome contact with nocturnal predators.

Reports of sexual violence in armed conflict frequently appear in political discussions and news media, presenting a stark contrast to a long history of silence and nonrecognition. Conflict-related sexual violence has transitioned rapidly from a neglected human rights issue to an unambiguous security concern on the agendas of powerful states and the United Nations Security Council. Through interviews and primary-source evidence, Kerry F. Crawford investigates the reasons for this dramatic change and the implications of the securitization of sexual violence.

The Variable of Violence will review exactly that, the aggression, chaos, and tension that broils in and through us. Specifically, the seemingly endless battles we face in our journey to understand God, the purpose of work, those whom we associate with, and our own susceptibilities.

The Roots of Violence: Why Humans Are Not by Nature Violent (Essays on Law, Policy and Psychiatry, Vol. 10, 2018) is an analytical and policy study that presents abundant evidence that human beings are not by nature violent and that violence therefore is a conditioned response. The scientific disciplines examined are anthropology, biology, neurology, pedagogy, psychoanalysis, and sociology.

From a nationally recognized violence-prevention expert, an accessible guide that debunks the most pervasive myths about crime and offers evidence-based strategies that make us safer A specific image of violence and how to avoid it lives in a lot of our imaginations. And what some of us fear...

The United States is the world's leading foreign aid donor. Yet there has been little inquiry into how such assistance affects the politics and societies of recipient nations. Jessica Trisko Darden challenges long-standing ideas about aid and its consequences, and highlights key patterns in the relationship between assistance and violence. She persuasively demonstrates that many of the foreign aid policy challenges the US faced in the Cold War era, such as the propping up of dictators friendly to US interests, remain salient today.

Human trafficking, particularly in the context of sex trafficking, represents a grotesque violation of human rights that transcends borders and societal norms. It involves the recruitment, transportation, and exploitation of individuals through coercion, deception, or abuse of power. Victims are often lured with false promises of employment, education, or a better life, only to find themselves trapped in a cycle of abuse and degradation.