The volume explores the relationship between religion and violence in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Early modern period, involving European and Japanese scholars. It investigates the ideological foundations of the relationship between violence and religion and their development in a varied corpus of sources (political and theological treatises, correspondence of missionaries, pamphlets, and images).

The series "Studies in Early Modern and Contemporary European History" is published under the auspices of the Italian-German Historical Institute of the Fondazione Bruno Kessler in Trento. On the one hand, it consists of the institute’s conference proceedings in German or English. On the other hand, the series includes collections of essays and monographs by authors working in fields of historical research central to the institute. The primary focus is on European history with an emphasis on the history of German-Italian relations. One of the series’ virtues is the cross-epochal perspective of many of its publications, which is a trademark of the institute in Trento.