Overview

History, marred with the actions of fundamentalist and extremist groups, continues to highlight religion as a cause for violent action. But how 'religious' is this violence? And what drives the faithful to attack in the name of their beliefs? Charles Selengut brings together approaches from a wide range of disciplines to comprehend forms of religious violence around the globe. Drawing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the 9-11 attacks, Heaven's Gate, the Catholic sex abuse scandals, and many other recent cases, Sacred Fury explains the logics behind these faith driven acts. In this expanded second edition, Selengut pays special attention to the Iraq War, and the theology and organization of Al-Qaeda.

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9780742560840

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Reviews

Sacred Fury distills Charles Selengut 's vast knowledge of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam into a lucid and meticulously executed work. Selengut more than succeeds in presenting the complexities of religiously motivated violence in this readable textbook. An exemplary educational tool for undergraduates, graduate students, and the general public, Sacred Fury is a must read for those concerned with the issues of religious fundamentalism and violence.--Kaplan, Jeffrey

Our world has experienced much religious violence in the last few decades. Sacred fury: Understanding Religious Violence provides a perspective on recent religious violence around the world that is scholarly and well documented but easy to read. It helps one understand the factors and motivations that lead to terrorism. This in turn helps reduce prejudice and stereotyping and increases the desire to respond with love and reason and not violence. Thus, the book is especially useful for academics and students, politicians and expatriates, and those in or near conflict zones. In fact, anyone who wants to better understand the violent conflicts of our contemporary world will benefit from this book. International Journal for Religious Freedom Sacred Fury helps us understand one of the most disturbing and perplexing phenomena of modern life-the emergence of religious violence as a major factor in world affairs. Selengut surveys the literature in the field and rightly focuses on the idea of sacred war as religion's potent contribution to charged political encounters. He brings psychological perspectives to bear in helping us understand how marginalized people, adopting religious images of divine conquest, engage in terrorism and other acts of public violence out of a sense of spiritual mission. This will be a helpful volume both for classroom use and public discussion. It helps us think anew about the causes of religious violence and how we should appropriately respond. -- Mark Juergensmeyer, professor of global studies, University of California, Santa Barbara; author of Gandhi's Way; A Handbook of Conflict Resolution Sacred Fury distills Charles Selengut 's vast knowledge of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam into a lucid and meticulously executed work. Selengut more than succeeds in presenting the complexities of religiously motivated violence in this readable textbook. An exemplary educational tool for undergraduates, graduate students, and the general public, Sacred Fury is a must read for those concerned with the issues of religious fundamentalism and violence. -- Jeffrey Kaplan, University of Wisconsin

Sacred Fury helps us understand one of the most disturbing and perplexing phenomena of modern life-the emergence of religious violence as a major factor in world affairs. Selengut surveys the literature in the field and rightly focuses on the idea of sacred war as religion's potent contribution to charged political encounters. He brings psychological perspectives to bear in helping us understand how marginalized people, adopting religious images of divine conquest, engage in terrorism and other acts of public violence out of a sense of spiritual mission. This will be a helpful volume both for classroom use and public discussion. It helps us think anew about the causes of religious violence and how we should appropriately respond. -- Mark Juergensmeyer Sacred Fury distills Charles Selengut 's vast knowledge of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam into a lucid and meticulously executed work. Selengut more than succeeds in presenting the complexities of religiously motivated violence in this readable textbook. An exemplary educational tool for undergraduates, graduate students, and the general public, Sacred Fury is a must read for those concerned with the issues of religious fundamentalism and violence. -- Kaplan, Jeffrey

Our world has experienced much religious violence in the last few decades. Sacred fury: Understanding Religious Violence provides a perspective on recent religious violence around the world that is scholarly and well documented but easy to read. It helps one understand the factors and motivations that lead to terrorism. This in turn helps reduce prejudice and stereotyping and increases the desire to respond with love and reason and not violence. Thus, the book is especially useful for academics and students, politicians and expatriates, and those in or near conflict zones. In fact, anyone who wants to better understand the violent conflicts of our contemporary world will benefit from this book. International Journal for Religious Freedom Sacred Fury helps us understand one of the most disturbing and perplexing phenomena of modern life-the emergence of religious violence as a major factor in world affairs. Selengut surveys the literature in the field and rightly focuses on the idea of sacred war as religion's potent contribution to charged political encounters. He brings psychological perspectives to bear in helping us understand how marginalized people, adopting religious images of divine conquest, engage in terrorism and other acts of public violence out of a sense of spiritual mission. This will be a helpful volume both for classroom use and public discussion. It helps us think anew about the causes of religious violence and how we should appropriately respond. -- Mark Juergensmeyer, University of California, Santa Barbara Sacred Fury distills Charles Selengut 's vast knowledge of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam into a lucid and meticulously executed work. Selengut more than succeeds in presenting the complexities of religiously motivated violence in this readable textbook. An exemplary educational tool for undergraduates, graduate students, and the general public, Sacred Fury is a must read for those concerned with the issues of religious fundamentalism and violence. -- Jeffrey Kaplan, University of Wisconsin

Sacred Fury helps us understand one of the most disturbing and perplexing phenomena of modern life-the emergence of religious violence as a major factor in world affairs. Selengut surveys the literature in the field and rightly focuses on the idea of sacred war as religion's potent contribution to charged political encounters. He brings psychological perspectives to bear in helping us understand how marginalized people, adopting religious images of divine conquest, engage in terrorism and other acts of public violence out of a sense of spiritual mission. This will be a helpful volume both for classroom use and public discussion. It helps us think anew about the causes of religious violence and how we should appropriately respond. -- Mark Juergensmeyer, UC Santa Barbara, author of Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence Sacred Fury distills Charles Selengut 's vast knowledge of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam into a lucid and meticulously executed work. Selengut more than succeeds in presenting the complexities of religiously motivated violence in this readable textbook. An exemplary educational tool for undergraduates, graduate students, and the general public, Sacred Fury is a must read for those concerned with the issues of religious fundamentalism and violence. -- Jeffrey Kaplan, University of Wisconsin

Author Information

Charles Selengut is professor of sociology at Drew University and editor of Jewish-Muslim Encounters and Jewish Identity in the Postmodern Age.

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