Suchergebnisse

A review essay on a book by William Cavanaugh, The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).

Although violence by religious believers is often explained by reference to 'fundamentalism,' this is an unsatisfactory analytic category. The term derives from a specific episode in American Protestantism & is often misconstrued as synonymous with beliefs based on the literal reading of texts. Religiously driven violence is often less a matter of beliefs than of ritualistic activity, similar to Juergensmeyer's 'performance violence.' The potentially violent believer must situate him/herself with reference to religious authorities who can legitimate action & an 'other' against whom violence can be directed. The presence of both legitimators & loci of evil allows the playing out of apocalyptic 'scripts,' in the expectation that violent acts will precipitate millennial transformation. Adapted from the source document.

'Religious Violence in Contemporary Japan: The Case of Aum Shinrikyo' by Ian Reader is reviewed.