The Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence, and ReconciliationTerrorists and peacemakers may grow up in the same community and adhere to the same religious tradition. The killing carried out by one and the reconciliation fostered by the other indicate the range of dramatic and contradictory responses to human suffering by religious actors. Yet religion's ability to inspire violence is intimately related to its equally impressive power as a force for peace, especially in the growing number of conflicts around the world that involve religious claims and religiously inspired combatants. This book explains what religious terrorists and religious peacemakers share in common, what causes them to take different paths in fighting injustice, and how a deeper understanding of religious extremism can and must be integrated more effectively into our thinking about tribal, regional, and international conflict. |
Contents
Powerful Medicine | 1 |
Coming to Terms with Religion | 23 |
The Growing End of an Argument | 25 |
Religions Violent Accomplices | 57 |
Violence as a Sacred Duty Patterns of Religious Extremism | 81 |
Militants for Peace | 121 |
Reconciliation and the Politics of Forgiveness | 167 |
The Logic of Religious Peacebuilding | 205 |
Religion and Conflict Transformation | 207 |
Other editions - View all
The Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence, and Reconciliation Scott R. Appleby Limited preview - 1999 |
The Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence, and Reconciliation R. Scott Appleby No preview available - 2000 |
Common terms and phrases
activists American An-Na'im apartheid believers bishops Bosnia Buddhist Cambodia Catholic Church Chicago Christian civil commitment Community of Sant'Egidio conflict resolution conflict transformation cultural deadly conflict Dhammayietra dialogue economic ecumenical Engaged Buddhism ethnic ethnoreligious evangelical example extremist faith forgiveness freedom FRELIMO Fundamentalisms fundamentalist gious Global groups Hindu Hizbullah Ibid International interreligious Islamic Islamist Jewish John John Paul Lederach justice Khmer Rouge leadership Lederach ligious Martin mediation Mennonite mission missionary modern moral movement Mozambique Muslim nationalist NGOs nonviolent Northern Ireland organizations Orthodox peacebuilding peacemaking Perspective pluralism political programs Protestant rabbis reconciliation regime reli religion religious actors religious communities Religious Human Religious Human Rights religious leaders religious militants religious peacebuilding religious tradition RENAMO role Roman Catholic sacred Sant'Egidio secular Serb Serbian Shi'ite social society South Africa spiritual structures theological tion U.S. Institute University Press violence World York Yugoslavia