Overview
This groundbreaking anthology provides the most comprehensive overview for understanding the fascinating relationship between religion and violence - historically, culturally, and in the contemporary world. Bringing together writings from scholarly and religious traditions, it is the first volume to unite primary sources - justifications for violence from religious texts, theologians, and activists - with invaluable essays by authoritative scholars. The first half of the collection includes original source materials justifying violence from various religious perspectives: Hindu, Chinese, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and Buddhist. Showing that religious violence is found in every tradition, these sources include ancient texts and scriptures along with thoughtful essays from theologians wrestling with such issues as military protection and pacifism. This collection also includes the writings of modern-day activists involved in suicide bombings, attacks on abortion clinics, and nerve gas assaults. This book's second half features well-known thinkers reflecting on why religion and violence are so intimately related and includes excerpts from early social theorists such as Durkheim, Marx, and Freud, as well as contemporary thinkers who view the issue of religious violence from literary, anthropological, postcolonial, and feminist perspectives. The editors' brief introductions to each essay provide important historical and conceptual contexts and relate the readings to one another. The diversity of selections and their accessible length make this volume ideal for both students and general readers.
Full Product Details
Author: Mark Juergensmeyer ,
Margo Kitts
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 1.80cm
, Length: 23.50cm
Weight: 0.482kg
ISBN: 9780691129136
ISBN 10: 0691129134
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 30 October 2011
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Out of Print
Availability: Awaiting stock
Language: English
Reviews
This book is recommended for any person studying the nature of violence in religion and the impact the notion of sacrifice has on expressions of faith. -- Wessel, Bentley Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae
Author Information
Mark Juergensmeyer is professor of sociology and global studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His many books include Terror in the Mind of God . Margo Kitts is associate professor of humanities at Hawai'i Pacific University. She is the author of Sanctified Violence in Homeric Society .
