Terror in the Mind of God

by Juergensmeyer, Mark

• ISBN13: 9780520240117
• ISBN10: 0520240111
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-09-01
• Publisher: Ingram Publisher Services, Inc.

Summary

Completely revised and updated, this new edition of Terror in the Mind of Godincorporates the events of September 11, 2001 into Mark Juergensmeyer's landmark study of religious terrorism. Juergensmeyer explores the 1993 World Trade Center explosion, Hamas suicide bombings, the Tokyo subway nerve gas attack, and the killing of abortion clinic doctors in the United States. His personal interviews with 1993 World Trade Center bomber Mahmud Abouhalima, Christian Right activist Mike Bray, Hamas leaders Sheik Yassin and Abdul Azis Rantisi, and Sikh political leader Simranjit Singh Mann, among others, take us into the mindset of those who perpetrate and support violence in the name of religion.

Author Biography

Mark Juergensmeyer is Professor of Sociology and Director of Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Revised Edition	xi
Preface and Acknowledgments	xiii
Introduction
1 Terror and God	3	(16)
The Meaning of Religious Terrorism	4	(6)
Seeing Inside Cultures of Violence	10	(9)
Cultures of Violence
2 Soldiers for Christ	19	(26)
Mike Bray and Abortion Clinic Bombings	20	(4)
Theological Justifications	24	(6)
Eric Robert Rudolph and Timothy McVeigh	30	(6)
Catholics and Protestants in Belfast	36	(9)
3 Zion Betrayed	45	(16)
Yoel Lerner and the Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin	46	(4)
Baruch Goldstein 's Attack at the Tomb of the Patriarchs	50	(3)
Meir Kahane and Jewish Justifications for Violence	53	(8)
4 Islam's "Neglected Duty"	61	(24)
Mahmud Abouhalima and the World Trade Center Bombing	62	(8)
Abdul Aziz Rantisi and Hamas Suicide Missions	70	(10)
Modern Islamic Justifications for Violence	80	(5)
5 The Sword of Sikhism	85	(18)
Simranjit Singh Mann and India's Assassinations	87	(7)
Sikh and Hindu Justifications for Violence	94	(9)
6 Armageddon in a Tokyo Subway	103	(18)
Takeshi Nakamura and the Aum Shinrikyo Assault	106	(7)
Can Buddhist Violence Be Justified?	113	(8)
The Logic of Religious Violence
7 Theater of Terror	121	(27)
Performance Violence	124	(4)
Setting the Stage	128	(7)
A Time to Kill	135	(6)
Reaching the Audience	141	(7)
8 Cosmic War	148	(19)
Grand Scenarios	152	(6)
Symbolic War	158	(5)
When Symbols Become Deadly	163	(4)
9 Martyrs and Demons	167	(23)
Sacrificial Victims	168	(6)
The Invention of Enemies	174	(7)
America as Enemy	181	(4)
Satanization and the Stages of Empowerment	185	(5)
10 Warriors' Power	190	(29)
Empowering Marginal Men	191	(7)
Why Guys Throw Bombs	198	(12)
Fighting for the Rule of God	210	(9)
11 The Mind of God	219	(32)
Empowering Religion	221	(7)
Postmodern Terror	228	(5)
Destroying Violence	233	(18)
Notes	251	(30)
Interviews and Correspondence	281	(4)
Bibliography	285	(20)
Index	305