Belief and Bloodshed Religion and Violence across Time and Tradition

by Wellman, James K., Jr.; Noegel, Scott; Stroup, Sarah Culpepper; Berger, Michael; McDaniel, Charles; Stephenson, Paul; Pahl, Jon; Atwill, David; Kamp, Marianne; Keyes, Charles; Goldman, Marion; Black, Joel; Lincoln, Bruce

• ISBN13: 9780742558236
• ISBN10: 0742558231
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-02-23
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

Intended for students as well as scholars of religion and violence, Belief and Bloodshed discusses how the relationship between religion and violence is not unique to a post-9/11 world'¬ ;it has existed throughout all of recorded history and culture. The book makes clear the complex interactions between religion, violence, and politics to show that religion as always innocent or always evil is misguided, and that rationalizations by religion for political power and violence are not new. Chronologically organized, the book shows religiously motivated violence across a variety of historical periods and cultures, moving from the ancient to medieval to the modern world, ending with an essay comparing the speeches of an ancient king to the speeches of the current U.S. President.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Religion and Violence: Past, Present, and Future	p. 1
The Ancient and Medieval World
Dismemberment, Creation, and Ritual: Images of Divine Violence in the Ancient Near East	p. 13
Making Memory: Ritual, Rhetoric, and Violence in the Roman Triumph	p. 29
Taming the Beast: Rabbinic Pacification of Second-Century Jewish Nationalism	p. 47
Violent Yearnings for the Kingdom of God: Munster's Militant Anabaptism	p. 63
Imperial Christianity and Sacred War in Byzantium	p. 81
The Modern World
Founding an Empire of Sacrifice: Innocent Domination and the Quaker Martyrs of Boston, 1659-1661	p. 97
Holy Culture Wars: Patterns of Ethno-Religious Violence in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century China	p. 115
Femicide as Terrorism: The Case of Uzbekistan's Unveiling Murders	p. 131
Monks, Guns, and Peace: Theravada Buddhism and Political Violence	p. 145
Avoiding Mass Violence at Rajneeshpuram	p. 165
"Obliterating an Idol of the Modern Age": The New Iconoclasm from the Twin Buddhas to the Twin Towers	p. 179
Is War Normal for American Evangelical Religion?	p. 195
On Political Theology, Imperial Ambitions, and Messianic Pretensions: Some Ancient and Modern Continuities	p. 211
References	p. 227
Index	p. 263
About the Contributors	p. 269
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