Overview

This is an illuminating and objective exploration of the role of religion in violence throughout history and culture. The phrase 'religious violence' often brings to mind dramatic and tragic events - the 9/11 attacks, riots between Hindus and Muslims in India, religious genocide in Africa, and as far back as the Crusades. But, as this illuminating in-depth study shows, violence connected with religion is a phenomenon that encompasses all cultures. Drawing on a wealth of case material, ""Cruel Creeds, Virtuous Violence"" presents a balanced and objective examination of the many manifestations of religious violence - including sacrifice, self-mortification, religious persecution, ethno-religious conflicts, and religious war - to reveal why certain kinds of religious ideas and practices contribute to certain types of violence.

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9781616142186

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Reviews

This is an important contribution to understanding both the attraction and repulsion that religion conjures up among human beings. The author painstakingly and objectively covers the full spectrum of personal and mass violence associated with the whole gamut of the world's religions, past and present. -Barry A. Kosmin, director, Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society & Culture You don't have to agree with every word of the author's argument to appreciate the complex and often troubling questions that Dr. Eller raises about the nature of religion, and the potential of so many faith traditions to produce violence, abuse and exploitation. Passionately written, Cruel Creeds, Virtuous Violence is a wide-ranging and obviously timely, text. -Philip Jenkins, author and Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Humanities, Pennsylvania State University

This is an important contribution to understanding both the attraction and repulsion that religion conjures up among human beings. The author painstakingly and objectively covers the full spectrum of personal and mass violence associated with the whole gamut of the world's religions, past and present. <br> -Barry A. Kosmin, director, Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society & Culture<br><br> You don't have to agree with every word of the author's argument to appreciate the complex and often troubling questions that Dr. Eller raises about the nature of religion, and the potential of so many faith traditions to produce violence, abuse and exploitation. Passionately written, Cruel Creeds, Virtuous Violence is a wide-ranging and obviously timely, text. <br>-Philip Jenkins, author and Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Humanities, Pennsylvania State University

This is an important contribution to understanding both the attraction and repulsion that religion conjures up among human beings. The author painstakingly and objectively covers the full spectrum of personal and mass violence associated with the whole gamut of the world's religions, past and present. -Barry A. Kosmin, director, Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society & Culture You don't have to agree with every word of the author's argument to appreciate the complex and often troubling questions that Dr. Eller raises about the nature of religion, and the potential of so many faith traditions to produce violence, abuse and exploitation. Passionately written, Cruel Creeds, Virtuous Violence is a wide-ranging and obviously timely, text. -Philip Jenkins, author and Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Humanities, Pennsylvania State University

"""""This is an important contribution to understanding both the attraction and repulsion that religion conjures up among human beings. The author painstakingly and objectively covers the full spectrum of personal and mass violence associated with the whole gamut of the world's religions, past and present."" -Barry A. Kosmin, director, Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society & Culture""You don't have to agree with every word of the author's argument to appreciate the complex and often troubling questions that Dr. Eller raises about the nature of religion, and the potential of so many faith traditions to produce violence, abuse and exploitation. Passionately written, Cruel Creeds, Virtuous Violence is a wide-ranging and obviously timely, text.""-Philip Jenkins, author and Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Humanities, Pennsylvania State University"

Author Information

Jack David Eller is a successful author, an assistant professor of anthropology at the Community College of Denver, and an editor for the Anthropology Review Database.

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