Violence has always played a part in the religious imagination, from symbols and myths to legendary battles, from colossal wars to the theater of terrorism. The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Violence surveys intersections between religion and violence throughout history and around the world. The forty original essays in this volume include overviews of major religious traditions, showing how violence is justified within the literary and theological foundations of the tradition, how it is used symbolically and in ritual practice, and how social acts of violence and warfare have been justified by religious ideas. The essays also examine patterns and themes relating to religious violence, such as sacrifice and martyrdom, which are explored in cross-disciplinary or regional analyses; and offer major analytic approaches, from literary to social scientific studies. The contributors to this volume--innovative thinkers who are forging new directions in theory and analysis related to religion and violence--provide novel insights into this important field of studies. By mapping out the whole field of religion and violence, The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Violence will prove an authoritative source for students and scholars for years to come.

About the Author
Mark Juergensmeyer is Professor of Sociology and Global Studies, and Director of the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Margo Kitts is Professor of Humanities and Religious Studies and Coordinator of Religious Studies and East-West Classical Studies at Hawai'i Pacific University in Honolulu. Michael Jerryson is Professor of Religious Studies at Youngstown State University.

Reviews
The authors of the volume's forty essays, who represent many disciplines including religion, anthropology, sociology, and political science, among others, offer a variety of ways of construing and explaining that relationship in both tradition-specific and cross-cultural contexts. The volume is thus a good resource for teaching as well as for brief introductions to the history of religion and violence in multiple traditions and to theories of religion and violence from multiple disciplines. * Rosemary Kellison, Religious Studies Review *
[A] timely collection that provides a welcome guide to the emerging field of studies in violence and religion. Among only a few such efforts to survey the field as a whole, the book explores religious violence in both the past and present as well as in all its social, psychological, and theological complexities...this diverse volume is certainly well worth picking up, as all involved in such scholarship are sure to find something of pertinent interest. * Journal of Contemporary Religion *
The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Violence is a welcome addition to the burgeoning scholarly literature on the relationship between religion and violence...it should definitely be read by all those interested in the various ways religion has been used to legitimate violence. * Politics, Religion, & Ideology *
Quite excellent and easily navigated by specialists and nonspecialists alike. * CHOICE *



Book Information
ISBN 9780190270094
Author Mark Juergensmeyer
Format Paperback
Page Count 672
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 1161g
Dimensions(mm) 173mm * 244mm * 38mm