This book challenges Christians to empathize with victims everywhere and to strive for a culture beyond violence. The author, who acknowledges his debt to cultural theoretician Rene Girard, shows how archaic religion sanctioned ritual violence in the name of social solidarity. Bailie goes on to explore how the Old Testament prophets and Paul's interpretation of the death of Jesus on the cross offered an alternative to cult sacrifice and scapegoating. He heralds Christianity for revealing a God who chooses "to suffer violence rather than to sponsor it." Using illustrative material from newspaper articles, poems, novels, and the Old and New Testaments, Bailie reveals sacred violence as a spent force. This is an important work for all those appalled by the bigotry and bloodletting of our times.