http://www.haverford.edu/relg/sells/courses/rel305_02.htm 

 

Religion 305: Religion, Ethics, and Society.
Topic for 2002: Religion and Violence
Professor Michael Sells. Office Phone 1027. Email: msells@haverford.edu Office: Gest 201

Professor Michael Sells

Office: Gest 201, Ph: 896-1027

Office Hours: Mon Wed 4:30-5:30

Classroom: Sharpless 410

Hours: Mondays 1:30-4:00

Enrollment Limit 15

The seminar investigation into this year's topic, religion and violence, will be divided into three areas of inquiry, that are pursued simultaneously throughout the semester: case studies, modalities of religious violence, and the class project (violence and peace, apartheid and diversity in Herzegovina).

Case Studies Include:

The Modalities area is centered upon role of sacred text and sacred models in the channeling, motivation, and justification of conflict, persecution, and aggression. A list of seven paradigms for violent ideology is given below. We will be discussing others as well.

1) The Jealous God. Monotheistic foundation texts (The Bible and the Qur'an) contain an embedded polemic against idolatry, sychretism, and religious plurality. Some have suggested that this conflictual view of religion makes monotheism, by nature, intolerant. What are the texts and examples of such thinking? What examples can we find of efforts within monotheistic traditions to deny or accept this syndrome as an issue, and to offer an alternative understanding of monotheism.

2) Blessing Rivalry. If only one son (Cain or Abel, Isaac or Ishmael, Esau or Jacob) can be blessed and given legitimacy, how can the descendants of both live together in full acceptance.

3) Purity. Religious violence frequently justifies itself through ideologies of purity. Purity laws (in Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism especially), concern with adulteration of religious identity, the horror of miscegenation in orthodox Hindu dharma texts; the comparison of idolatry to "whoredom" and the relation of such passages to "religious cleansing," "ethnic cleansing," and mysogeny.

4) The Innocent Martyr and collapse of primordial or past time into the present: the most known example is the passion of Jesus Christ which, when ritually recalled or reeacted can place the worship into the event in a "collapse of time," leading to extraordinary emotive power and mass psychology. Another example is the passion of Husayn. Both can be used for peaceful purposes or, as in case of persecution of Jews, to motivate and instigate violence against those alleged to be guilty.

5) Competition for Sacred Space: The phenomenon needs little initial explanation. Examples. Temple Mount/Harem ash-Sharif, RamTemple/BabriMasjid at Ayodhya, Bishop Peric's claim concern the Careva Mosque in Stolac.

6) Pilgrimage and Territoriality: Like all religious rituals, pilgrimages can generate intergroup solidarity or warfare, depending upon circumstances. We will focus on the role of pilgrimage in mobilizing, financing, organizing, motivating, and justifying the annihilation of the religious other.

7) Collapse of the Future (eschatological or apocalyptic time) into the present. This paradigm centers on the belief that one is at the end time and fighting the anti-Christ, Dajjal, or other cosmic evil, represented in religious nationalism or racism, as a particular nation, religion, or race. Those acting in such a scenario are willing to carry out the most extreme acts (which are almost always mild by comparison to what is described in some of the eschatological texts. One writer, Mark Juergensmeyer, has argued that this eschalogloy-in-a-state-of-realization is the guiding ideology behind all the post Cold War forms of religious terrorism.

The Class Project focuses upon the Herzegovina region of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which has been roughtly divided between areas controlled by Serb and Croat religious nationalists. We will discuss the efforts to annihilate the non-Orthodox or non-Catholic peoples and heritage in these two areas of control, and the efforts of Catholic, Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish and other non-nationalists to resist the religious apartheid, reconstruction the interreligious heritage, and create a pluriform society.

We will study the war-crimes, the individual war-criminals, and the religious leaders who supported them and continue to support them, as well as the specific individuals and programs underway meant to resist the violence. Special attention will be paid to the areas of Stolac, Zitomoslici, Pocitelj, Mostar, Trebinje, and Medjugorje.

Requirements of the course include a final, 15 page page paper (which will count as 50% of the final grade); faithful participation and attendance; a group project on a case study with individual reports and oral presentations; and a report on participation in the class project. The reports on the group project and the class project may be integrated into html formats and, with the permission of the student, may form part of web sites posted and linked from Michael Sells' Balkan Human Right and War Crimes page and/or a future Religion 305 report on religion and violence, with special attention to the cases studies.

Readings. The tripartite division of the class makes it difficult to align readings exactly with both case studies and class project. For this reason, the student will need to be able to have at least two "tracks" of readings, sometimes three, proceeding at the same time. A tentative syllabus of readings will be posted at a later date. Note: this is an intensive class at the advanced level.

The reading assignment due on September 16 are:

Regina Schwartz, The Curse of Cain, 1-76
Michael Sells, The Bridge Betrayed, 1-155
Stolac Web Page: http://www.haverford.edu/relg/sells/stolac/stolac.html

Required Books:

Note: We will be discussing and reading passages of the required books in class. Everyone will need to have access to a copy of a book. However, the readings at some point will become expensive, so in certain cases it will be feasible for two people to share a book, in which case they will make sure each has time to use it and will be read to share it during the class hour. This provision should only be used in specific cases (up to four of the required books). Because The Bridge Betrayed will be used constantly throughout the course as a source for the class project, each student should have a copy (all royalities, approximately $1 per book, will be donated to programs for interreligious peacebuilding in Herzegovina). Other required books include:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading

Paradigm

Case Study

Herzegovina Project

 

The Seminar in Religion, Ethics and Society is taught annually in the religion departmnet. It is required for religion majors the area of concentration on ethnics and society, but it is not restricted to religion department students.