1st Edition
Religion and Violence in Western Traditions Selected Studies
This book examines the connection between religion and violence in the Western traditions of the three Abrahamic faiths, from ancient to modern times. It addresses a gap in the scholarly debate on the nature of religious violence by bringing scholars that specialize in pre-modern religions and scriptural traditions into the same sphere of discussion as those specializing in contemporary manifestations of religious violence.
Moving beyond the question of the “authenticity” of religious violence, this book brings together scholars from a variety of disciplines. Contributors explore the central role that religious texts have played in encouraging, as well as confronting, violence. The interdisciplinary conversation that takes place challenges assumptions that religious violence is a modern problem that can be fully understood without reference to religious scriptures, beliefs, or history. Each chapter focuses its analysis on a particular case study from a distinct historical period. Taken as a whole, these chapters attest to the persistent relationship between religion and violence that links the ancient and contemporary worlds.
This is a dynamic collection of explorations into how religion and violence intersect. As such, it will be a key resource for any scholar of Religious Studies, Theology and Religion and Violence, as well as Christian, Jewish, and Islamic Studies.
Acknowledgements
List of Contributors
Introduction Religion and Violence in Western Traditions
André Gagné, Jennifer Guyver, and Gerbern S. Oegema
1 "I will be an enemy to your enemies": The Genocidal Ideal in the Hebrew Bible and its Legacy
Frances Flannery
2 Turn the Cheek but Buy a Sword: Responding to Violence in Luke-Acts
David Anthony Basham
3 Anabaptists and the Apocalypse: The Makings of a Cosmic War in Münster
Jennifer Otto
4 "Ruling [the Church] to its destruction and leading souls to hell in masses": Violence, Victimhood and Self-Defence in the Conciliarist Discourse of Jacques Almain
Shaun Retallick
5 Fearful Symmetry: Revelation, Hellboy, and Pop Apocalyptic Violence
Aaron Ricker
6 Inciting Genocide in Rwanda and the Reception of the Bible: "When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it"
Spyridon Loumakis
7 Jihadism and the Family in Europe: The Anthropology of the Jihadist Family
Farhad Khosrokhavar
8 Mediatization of Religious Violence: Information and Obscenity
Stefan Bratosin
9 Protecting the Legitimacy of State Violence Through Laïcité: the Case of Quebec
Jennifer Guyver
10 Battling the Plague: Spiritual Warfare, COVID-19 and the Demonization of Political Adversaries
André Gagné
Biography
André Gagné is Full Professor in the Department of Theological Studies at Concordia University. He was Directeur d'études invité at l’École pratique des hautes études in Paris in 2017. Dr. Gagné is also a Full Member of the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance (Concordia) and a Co-Researcher with the Centre d’expertise de formation sur les intégrismes religieux, les idéologies politiques et la radicalisation (CEFIR).
Jennifer Guyver is a PhD candidate in the School of Religious Studies at McGill University. Jennifer is also a freelance academic editor and translator. Alongside researching and editing, she is currently working on a research project studying the impact of Quebec laicity on the career choice.
Gerbern S. Oegema is Professor of religion at McGill University, he is the founder and first director of the McGill Center for Research on Religion (CREOR) as well as the founder and first chair of the Council of theological Education in Montreal.
