1st Edition

Religion and Violence A Religious Studies Approach

By Paul Powers Copyright 2021
296 Pages 10 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

296 Pages 10 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

296 Pages 10 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

Does religion cause much of the world’s violence? Is religion inherently violent? Would violence disappear if religion did? Is true religion a force for peace? Is religion a mask for power and self-interest? What aspects of religion make violence more—or less—likely?  Religion and Violence: A Religious Studies Approach explores the potential of classic social theories to shed light on the... Read more

Preface

  1. Introduction: Religion and the Management of Violence
  2. Maximalism, Minimalism, and a Way Forward
  3. Karl Marx, Marxists, and Marxians: Religion, Oppression, and Revolution
  4. Émile Durkheim: Religion as Social Grouping and Social Grappling
  5. Victor Turner: Liminal States, Social Stability, and Social Upheaval
  6. Max Weber on Asceticism: Breaking the World to Save It
  7. Modernization, Secularization, and their Discontents
  8. Church-Sect-Cult: Social Formation and Patterns of Violence
  9. Some Building Blocks of Religion and Violence
  10. The Special Case of Islam?

Appendix: Toward a Typology of Violence in RV

 

Biography

Paul R. Powers is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Lewis & Clark College, USA.