THE PHILOSOPHER AND THE JIHADIST

And the Sistine Chapel was saved... A true story

May 2004. Muhammad, a young Moroccan boy, asserts having received from Allah the mission to destroy Sistine Chapel and purify Rome of all its idolatrous people.
Warned by her sister, Jean-Yves Leloup tries to convince him to give up on this idea. He's thus taken hostage by this young man, armed with explosive and ready to act out.
Between these two men, the terrorist and the philosopher, a complicated dialogue begins to establish.
Based on a true story, this tale, developed with theological, Christian and Islamic references, asks essential questions about Koran interpretation. Terrorists supposedly “religious” are often nihilist above all. The taste for void prevails over respect of life.
“What can we do facing violence?” Jean-Yves Leloup asks, by quoting many traditions, from Christianity to Taoism, to make a way to peace. His answer surprises us by its depth and freedom.

Writer, philosopher and theologian, Jean-Yves Leloup, born in 1950, is the author of many reference books about Christianity origins and encounters of religions (8 translated in Italian). He produced also some translations and original interpretations of Gospel, Epistles and Jean's Apocalypse.