Visions of peace and tales of war

In biblical as well as in non-biblical texts war is a widespread theme often embedded in a narrative framework. In this volume that contains the proceedings of a conference in Kerkrade (Netherlands) in July 2009, a whole series of war narratives has been analyzed, such as 1 Maccabees, Ben Sira, the Book of Judith, the Book of Chronicles, Esther. Special attention is paid to the Scrolls of War from Qumran, to the concepts of Holy War and Divine Warrior, to Josephus and to war and peace in the Book of Psalms. Visions of peace are discussed in contributions that give attention to the Idea of Peace in Antiquity, to peace in Jewish Prayer, to the collocation ‛covenant of peace’, as well as to specific passages in the books of Micha and Isaiah, and in the Gospel of Matthew.