Bellinger, Charles K. - The Genealogy of Violence: Reflections on Creation, Freedom, and Evil

The past century has been very violent. The Nazis formulated and carried out a plan to kill as many Jews as they possibly could. Stalin's regime brought about the deaths of millions of Soviet citizens. The Khmer Rouge executed or starved to death approximately two million people in Cambodia during the late 1970s. The Hutus in Rwanda slaughtered Tutsis by the hundreds of thousands more recently, despite the “success” of Christian missions there, which has led to the majority of both tribal groups identifying themselves as Christian. Many other similar historical examples could be cited, but the issue has been sufficiently brought forward. From time to time throughout human history large- scale eruptions of violence have resulted in the deaths of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions. In this study, I ask one basic question: Why?