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.
| ISBN | 0691129142 | | Pages | 256 | | ISBN13 | 9780691129143
(What's this?) | | Weight (grammes) | 371 | | Publisher | Princeton University Press | | Published in | New Jersey | | Imprint | Princeton University Press | | Height (mm) | 229 | | Format | Paperback | | Width (mm) | 152 | | Publication date | 10 Oct 2011 | | Spine width (mm) | 18 | | DEWEY | 205.697 | | Academic level | Tertiary education, Professional / Scholarly | | DEWEY edition | DC22 | |
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Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Why Is Religion Violent and Violence Religious? 1 Part I: Religious Justifications for Violence Introduction to Part I 7 Chapter 1. Kautilya 13 "Forms of Treacherous Fights," the Arthashastra 13 Chapter 2. Sun Tzu 17 "Laying Plans," The Art of War 17 Chapter 3. The Bhagavad Gita 20 The Bhagavad Gita in the Mahabharata 20 Chapter 4. Soho Takuan 25 "Annals of the Sword Taia," The Unfettered Mind 25 Chapter 5. The Hebrew Bible 29 Deuteronomy 20 31 Exodus 23 32 Chapter 6. The Qur?an 35 Surah 2 ("The Cow") 36 Chapter 7. Thomas Aquinas 41 "Whether It Is Always Sinful to Wage War?" Summa Theologica 41 Chapter 8. Reinhold Niebuhr 45 "Why the Christian Church Is Not Pacifist" 45 Chapter 9. Michael Bray 55 "A Time for Revolution?" A Time to Kill 56 Chapter 10. Abd al-Salam Faraj 62 The Neglected Duty 63 Chapter 11. Meir Kahane 69 "War and Peace," The Jewish Idea 69 Chapter 12. Shoko Asahara 75 Declaring Myself the Christ 76 Disaster Comes to the Land of the Rising Sun 77 Chapter 13. 9/11 Conspirator 82 "Last Instructions of 9/11" 83 Part II: Understanding the Religious Role in Violence Introduction to Part II 93 Chapter 14. ?mile Durkheim 100 Elementary Forms of the Religious Life 101 Chapter 15. Henri Hubert and Marcel Mauss 108 "Conclusion," Sacrifice: Its Nature and Function 109 Chapter 16. Sigmund Freud 115 Totem and Taboo 116 Chapter 17. Ren? Girard 127 "Sacrifice," Violence and the Sacred 128 Chapter 18. Walter Burkert 141 Homo Necans 141 Chapter 19. Maurice Bloch 152 Prey into Hunter 152 Chapter 20. Georges Bataille 167 Theory of Religion 167 Chapter 21. Karl Marx 174 Critique of Hegel?s Philosophy of Right 174 Chapter 22. Nancy Jay 178 "Sacrifice and Descent," Throughout Your Generations Forever 178 Chapter 23. Elaine Scarry 190 The Body in Pain 191 Chapter 24. Jean Baudrillard 201 The Spirit of Terrorism 201 Chapter 25. Ashis Nandy 210 "The Discreet Charm of Indian Terrorism," The Savage Freud and Other Essays 210 Closing Comments: The Connection between War and Sacrifice 217 Selected Bibliography 223 Permissions 229 About the Editors 231 Index 233
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
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