The first comprehensive history of blasphemy from Moses to Charlie Hebdo
The worldwide outrage over the caricatures of Mohammed and the terror attack on Charlie Hebdo in 2015 have made it clear that blasphemy is not a relic of the Inquisition, but is more relevant today than a hundred years ago.
But why do people berate God, prophets, and saints? And why do such words and deeds call forth such heated reactions? The historian Gerd Schwerhoff writes of cursing, blaspheming peasants, and the Protestant Reformers, who insult madonna figures and are sentenced to death. He describes how the Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire argued against punishment for blaspheming, and why a woman of the radical feminist activist group Femen was accused of offending religious sentiment by the Cologne cathedral chapter.
This large sweep of history, recounted in a sovereign manner, opens a new perspective on contemporary conflicts: Certainly, "hate speech" is currently disseminated worldwide via digital media. However, such abuse of those who think and believe differently is not at all new.
Gerd Schwerhoff has been researching blasphemy for several years. He is one of the most renowned experts on the subject.
"Early modern historian Gerd Schwerhoff vividly and confidently describes the degradation of the sacred as a highly ambivalent history of collective vulnerability and self-exaltation." - Süddeutsche Zeitung, Barbara Stolberg-Rilinger
