Religion 264: Religion and Violence
Professor Michael Sells
Monday-Wednesday 2:30-4:00
Michael Sells, ex. 1027, msells@haverford.edu, http://www. haverford.edu/relg/sells/home.html
Gest 201, Office Hours: Tuesday 2:30-4:30 and by appointment
Human Rights Reports Page # 262

The symbols, rituals, sacred texts, and institutions of religion can and have been used for both peaceful and violent ends. They can influence not only believers but unbelievers as well. In times of conflict, religion acts in concert political, social, and economic factors. This course examines cases in which the role of religion in motivating and justifying violence is pronounced, and the various symbolic modes within religion that, separately or in combination, can become agents of conflict.

The course presumes neither that religions are primarily peaceful nor that they are primarily violent. It presumes neither than religious claims are true nor that they are false, only that they are influential factors in human affairs. Nor does it try to prove some religions more conducive to violence than others. It seeks to understand how religions become vehicle for violence and attempts to ask the same critical questions to one religion as it asks to the other. The course is divided into two parts. The first focuses upon theory and upon primary religious texts. The second focus upon case studies. Both sections will take up the modalities of the sacred used in religious violence.

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.

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. The language of purity can be particularly powerful: purity codes (in Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism especially), religious texts discussing purity of the land, sexual purity, and metaphors comparing idolatry to whoredom.

4) The Innocent Martyr and collapse of primordial or past time into the present: 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.

5) Competition for Sacred Space: The phenomenon needs little initial explanation. Examples. Temple Mount/Haram ash-Sharif, RamTemple/BabriMasjid at Ayodhya, The Stolac mosque in Bosnia.

6) Pilgrimage and Territoriality: Like all religious rituals, pilgrimages can generate intergroup solidarity or warfare, depending upon circumstances.

7) Messianic expectations and apocalypse. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have strong traditions predicting a messiah will come to establish justice and peace on earth, often after cataclysmic war.

8) Eschatology: Heaven and Hell. Can one treat with dignity and humanity those considered condemned by God to eternal torment in hell?

Requirements of the course include a final, 10-12 page page paper; faithful participation and attendance; and two short papers, one of which will be an "intervention," a project focused on a particular human rights case. (This assignment will be explained in full later). Grading is based roughly 1/3 on the final project, 1/3 on the short paper and intervention, 1/3 on class participation (including oral reports).

Students who think they may need accommodations in this course because of the impact of a disability are encouraged to meet with me privately early in the semester. Students should also contact Rick Webb, Coordinator, Office of Disabilities Services (rwebb@haverford.edu, 610-896-1290) to verify their eligibility for reasonable accommodations as soon as possible. Early contact will help to avoid unnecessary inconvenience and delays.

Required Books:

8/30 Introduction, Lottery  
9/1 Juergensmeyer Juergensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of God 3-118. Revelation 1-7

9/6

 

Juergensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of God 122-248 Revelation 8-22

9/8

Schwartz

Regina Schwartz, The Curse of Cain 1-82 Genesis 4-12

9/13

 

Regina Schwartz, The Curse of Cain 83-142 Exodus 10-32

9/15

 

Regina Schwartz, The Curse of Cain 143-176 Exodus 32-40

9/20

 

Joshua 1-24

9/22

Girard

Rene Girard, Violence and the Sacred 1-88

9/27

 

Girard 89-168, Genesis 24-36

 

Girard 169-249

9/29

 

Girard 250-305

10/4

Jihadism

 Malise Ruthven, Fury in the Mind of God, Ernst, Q Sura 2

10/6

Taliban

Ruthven, Ernst, Q Sura 3 and Abraham-Isaac passages

10/8-17

 

Fall Break

10/18

 

Taliban 1-82 Q Sura 5

10/20

Taliban 82-140 Q Sura 8 Juan Cole on Muhammad Atta's Doomsday Document

10/25

 

Taliban 144-216 Q Sura 9 Islam Sacred Space Intro

10/27

 

Famous Case of the Banu Qurayza'

Juan Campo, The Mecca Pilgrimage in the Formation of Islam in Modern Egypt

 

11/1

Jerusalem

Gershon Geronberg, The End of Days:Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount 1-156.

11/3

Jerusalem

Gorenberg's End of Days 157-252. Daniel 1-11, Mi`raj, Martin on Islamic Communal Practice

11/8

Jerusalem

Roger Friedland and Richard D. Hecht. “The Politics of Sacred Place: Jerusalem’s Temple Mount/al-haram al-sharif," in Jamie Scott & Paul Simpson-Housely: Sacred Places and Profane Spaces (New York: Greenwood Press, 1991): 21-61. " Available for class members here.

11/10

Jerusalem

Redeeming the Land, Hosea 1-14. Secular Fundamentalism: Selections from Leon Uris' Exodus

11/15

Bosnia

No Regular Class. Readings in Serb Religious Mythology and the Violence in Bosnia. 1)The Construction of Islam in Serb Religious Mythology, 2) Bosnia-Herzegovina: Chosen Trauma and It Transgenerational Transmission (rotate view).

11/17

Bosnia

The Passion in the Gospels, Gibson, and Njegos. Readings in Matthew 22-27, John 18-21, Mark 14-16, Njegos, The Mountain Wreath, Andric,

11/22

Bosnia

Stolac, Zitomislici, St. Sava, Priory Church, Fahd Bosnia readings

11/24

Bosnia

Mejugorje Bosnia readings

11/29

Gujarat

The RSS and the World Hindu Council (VHP) Chetan Bhatt, Hindu Nationalism: Origins, Ideologies, and Modern Myths (2001). Chapter 4: From Revolutionary Natinalism to Hindutva; and Chapter 7: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

12/1

Gujarat

Lise McKean, Divine Enterprise: Gurus and the Hindu Nationalist Movement: A) Title; B) Chapter 3 on Savarkar; C) Epilogue on Ayodhya

12/6

Gujarat

Ayodhya to Gujarat Said, Edward Said, The Clash of Definitions, Article on Bernard Lewis Friday, November 12. William Dalrymple on B Lewis and Nabil Matar

12/8

Gujarat

Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream, Gandhi's Commentary on the Baghavad Gita, On the Hajj: From the Autobiography of Malcolm X.

 

 

 

12/16

2:00 PM

Final Paper Due

The Hizb ut-tahrir on Civilization Clash

Jonathan Brockopp: Brief Discussion of Jihad

Center for Islamic Pluralism
Ahmed Mansour Testimony
Hizb-ut-tahrir, Dangerous Concepts to Attack Islam and Consolidate Western Culture
Hisb-ut-tahrir, The Inevitability of the Clash of Civilisation
anti-Qadian group Dar al-Irshad
New York Times article on controversy over Sura 9
Public and Private Spheres in Islam Debate
Discussion of Dhimmi Laws
UBL's Tafsir in his Declaration of War (1996) and "Fatwa" (1998) by Rosalind Gwynne
Iraq Deja Vu

Instructions Aids for Final Paper: "elements of a good essay"

Haifa Zangana on Iraq
maps of West Bank, Jerusalem, Palestine.: Map"Mur" "Mur"2 Gaza WestBank Jerusalem

17 Dec 04