Princeton Readings in Religion and Violence / / ed. by Mark Juergensmeyer, Margo Kitts.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton University Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013
• HerausgeberIn: Juergensmeyer, Mark,; Kitts, Margo,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2011]; ©2012
• Bliain Foilsithe: 2011
• Teanga: English
• Cur Síos Fisiciúil: 1 online resource (256 p.) :; 1 table.

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. The collection also includes the writings of modern-day activists involved in suicide bombings, attacks on abortion clinics, and nerve gas assaults. The 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.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Why Is Religion Violent and Violence Religious? -- Part I. Religious Justifications for Violence -- Introduction to Part I -- 1. Kautilya -- 2. Sun Tzu -- 3. The Bhagavad Gita -- 4. Soho Takuan -- 5. The Hebrew Bible -- 6. The Qur'an -- 7. Thomas Aquinas -- 8. Reinhold Niebuhr -- 9. Michael Bray -- 10. Abd al-Salam Faraj -- 11. Meir Kahane -- 12. Shoko Asahara -- 13. 9/11 Conspirator -- Part II. Understanding the Religious Role in Violence -- Introduction to Part II -- 14. Émile Durkheim -- 15. Henri Hubert and Marcel Mauss -- 16. Sigmund Freud -- 17. René Girard -- 18. Walter Burkert -- 19. Maurice Bloch -- 20. Georges Bataille -- 21. Karl Marx -- 22. Nancy Jay -- 23. Elaine Scarry -- 24. Jean Baudrillard -- 25. Ashis Nandy -- Closing Comments: The Connection between War and Sacrifice -- Selected Bibliography -- Permissions -- About the Editors -- Index