Why would anybody believe that God could sanction terrorism? Why has the rediscovery of religion’s power in recent years manifested in such a bloody way? What, if anything, can be done about it?Terror in the Mind of God, now in its fourth edition, answers these questions and more. Thoroughly revised and expanded, the book analyzes in detail terrorism related to almost all the world’s major religious traditions: European Christians who oppose Muslim immigrants; American Chr...

A gripping study of how religiously motivated violence and militant movements end, from the perspectives of those most deeply involved.Mark Juergensmeyer is arguably the globe’s leading expert on religious violence, and for decades his books have helped us understand the worlds and worldviews of those who take up arms in the name of their faith. But even the most violent of movements, characterized by grand religious visions of holy warfare, eventually come to an e...

For decades, Mark Juergensmeyer has been studying the rise of religious violence around the world, including groups like ISIS and Christian militias that have been involved in acts of terrorism. Over the years he came to realize that war is the central image in the worldview of virtually every religious movement engaged in violent acts. Behind the moral justification of using violence are images of great confrontations of war on a transcendent scale.God at War explores the...

How is religion changing in the twenty-first century? In the global era, religion has leapt onto the world stage, often in contradictory ways. Some religious activists are antagonistic and engage in protests, violent acts, and political challenges. Others are positive and help to shape an emerging transnational civil society. In addition, a new global religion may be in the making, providing a moral and spiritual basis for a worldwide community of concern about environmental issues, human ...

The Causes and Consequences of Group Violence: From Bullies to Terrorists offers a transnational and transdisciplinary investigation of the causes and consequences of violence, ranging from bullying and hate crimes to revolutions, genocide, and acts of terrorism. Editors James Hawdon, John Ryan, and Mark Lucht bring together empirical investigations of these specific types of violence as well as theoretical discussions of the underlying similarities and differences among them. Focusing on ...

Though traditionally regarded as a peaceful religion, Buddhism has a dark side. On multiple occasions over the past fifteen centuries, Buddhist leaders have sanctioned violence, and even war. The eight essays in this book focus on a variety of Buddhist traditions, from antiquity to the present, and show that Buddhist organizations have used religious images and rhetoric to support military conquest throughout history. Buddhist soldiers in sixth century China were given the illustrious stat...

Though traditionally regarded as a peaceful religion, Buddhism has a dark side. On multiple occasions over the past fifteen centuries, Buddhist leaders have sanctioned violence, and even war. The eight essays in this book focus on a variety of Buddhist traditions, from antiquity to the present, and show that Buddhist organizations have used religious images and rhetoric to support military conquest throughout history. Buddhist soldiers in sixth century China were given the illustrious stat...

Led by Mona Kanwal Sheikh and Mark Juergensmeyer, nine authors journey into the worlds of unusual, sometimes violent religious groups. Together, these original first-person contributions provide an integrated, problem-solving approach to field research in religious extremism, illustrating ground-breaking methods in gaining access to their subjects’ worldviews. In a narrative style that is at once both conversational and rigorous, the book demonstrates for students, researchers, and journal...

In this accessible text, Mark Juergensmeyer, a pioneer in global studies, provides a comprehensive overview of the emerging field of global studies from regional, topical, and theoretical perspectives. Each of the twenty compact chapters in Thinking Globally features Juergensmeyer’s own lucid introduction to the key topics and offers brief excerpts from major writers in those areas. The chapters explore the history of globalization in each region of the world, from Africa and the ...

An anthology that examines the historical and contemporary relationship between religion and violenceThis groundbreaking anthology provides the most comprehensive overview for understanding the fascinating relationship between religion and violence—historically, culturally, and in the contemporary world. Bringing together writings from scholarly and religious traditions, it is the first volume to unite primary sources—justifications for violence from religious text...

This collection of essays presents groundbreaking work from an interdisciplinary group of leading theorists and scholars representing the fields of history, philosophy, political science, sociology, and anthropology. The volume will introduce readers to some of the most compelling new conceptual and theoretical understandings of secularism and the secular, while also examining socio-political trends involving the relationship between the religious and the secular from a variety of location...

Is religion inherently predisposed to violence? Or has religion been taken hostage by a politics of aggression? The years since the end of the Cold War have shown a noticeable shift in patterns of religious extremism, accentuating the uncomfortable, complex, and oft-misunderstood relationship between religion and violence. The essays in this succinct new volume examine that relationship by offering a well-rounded look at violence as it appears in the world's most prominent religious tradit...