Blood and the Covenant

Blood and the Covenant tells the story of a mindset-the conception of a personal covenant between God and man-and the insidious consequences of this mindset. Author Pierre Parisien examines the history of covenantal belief and looks critically at two of its most troubling aspects: appropriation (the Promised Land) and moral dispensation (the belief that if you are doing it for God, then it is not a sin but a virtuous act). Parisien traces the historical consequences of the contract with God, from the campaigns of Joshua in Canaan to the present manifestations of ideological Zionism. He argues that the course of history has been, in great part, a consequence of the original Covenant, and he charts the regrettable lineage of atrocities committed under the auspices of covenant fulfillment-including the conquest of Canaan to the hegemony of Rome, the rape of Northern India by the Muslim Sultans, the Crusades, European colonialism (which considered the entire planet as the Promised Land), Manifest Destiny, and ideological Zionism. Wars, crimes against humanity, and genocide have too often been the aftermath of the Covenant. Will this woeful progression ever come to an end?