“Informative, enlightening . . . relevant . . . will remain the standard text in this field” reads a review of Under Caesar’s Sword: How Christians Respond to Persecution by Peter Admirand of Dublin University, writing for Reading Religion, a blog of the American Academy of Religion.
The review opens thus:
At interfaith events at a Dublin synagogue which I attend, an elderly Jewish man always raises the issue of the persecution of Christians and laments over why the world remains silent. The book under discussion does not delve deeply into that specific question, but offers the most informative, enlightening, and (sadly) relevant treatment of the current global persecution of Christians and the diverse ways Christians respond to the violence and injustice unleashed against them. In terms of statistics, five hundred million Christians, roughly 20% of the global total, live in countries where “they are vulnerable to severe persecution” (10).
And here was an insightful paragraph:
In some Christian circles, the story of Christian persecution of the Other is the dominant trope: Christians who burned heretics and committed genocide against Native Americans and other indigenous groups and cultures; Christian persecutions and violence in the long history of Jewish-Christian relations; Christian crusades against Muslims; and so on. These damning and humbling failures must always be taught. However, the requirement to speak out and condemn all violence and injustice remains a priority. In too many places globally, Christians are victims of ghastly violence and retribution, or are systematically restricted from practicing and spreading their faith and beliefs.
The whole review is well worth reading.