The Curse of Cain: The Violent Legacy of Monotheism

This provocative and timely examination of the interrelationship of monotheism and violence was precipitated by a question posed to Schwartz when she was teaching the Bible to undergraduates: "What about the Canaanites?" Biblical narrative has been a singularly powerful form of social memory, and Schwartz's reflection on its often violent political impact is an eloquent call not so much to close as to open an "old monothesitic" book to the possibility of multiplicity so that, as she puts it, "new books may be fruitful and multiply." This is a refreshing alternative to criticism-Biblical and otherwise-that so often confuses interpretation with closure; it is an invitation to an ethic of possibility, plenitude, and generosity, a welcome show more antidote to violence, as important for its insights into memory, identity, and place as for its criticism of monotheism's violent legacy. show less