The Insult to God. A Universal History of Blasphemy from the Prophet Moses to Charlie Hebdo

The historian Gerd Schwerhoff explains why people have been insulting God, prophets, and saints for over 2000 years. Those who are 'up there' are almost always cursed by those who are 'down here'. This concerns impotence and anger against the powerful, against an apparently indifferent God, or against other religions. A confidently told story from antiquity (with Judaism and early Christianity), through the Middle Ages and early modern period (with the Inquisition, heresy, and the Reformation) to the Enlightenment and current confrontations in the tension zone between Christianity, secularism, and Islam.