The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict
Search my Subject Specializations: Classical, Early, and Medieval Plays and Playwrights: Classical, Early, and Medieval Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval Prose and Writers: Classical, Early, and Medieval World History: Civil War American History: Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content. The Myth of Religious Violence: Bibliographic Information Print publication date: If you'd like to improve your grasp of history and understand why complex political wars of power were re-written centuries later as the fault of theologians, then this is your book.
I especially think this should be read by people who embrace Whig history without checking original sources; but who wants their personal mythology to be challenged? This is a monumental book that all college philosophy majors and religious studies majors should read as soon as possible. The most provocative insight this book has to offer is that it makes it impossible to construct an argument or conversation about "religion" as some sort of autonomous and basic discourse that stands qualitatively separate from its "secular" counterpart.
In other words, there is no way to define "religion" in a way that applies to all times and cultures while also maintaining that there is a category known as the "secular" which is distinct from the "religious. Please read this book.
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The market is full of books basically called "Why religion is evil and is the cause of all pain and suffering on earth. The chief concern is how we define religion. From Cavanaugh's point of view, the line between religious and secular life is more indistinct than most people believe. Also, the line between these two realms is a relatively recent invention and created to focus the devotion of the individual on the state rather than on religious life and God. Under those conditions, it is more likely that a person will be willing to kill and die for the state as a member of the military in a war than as a member of a religious group.
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The book doesn't try to convince its readers that religion has no role in the realm of war and violence, but that for most of human history, there was no separation of the two. He also tackles the 'hot button' of violence and Islam and speaks in Islam's defense, rather than condemning Muslims for having an integrated sense of secular and religious life. The book is somewhat scholarly and may be a slow read for some, but I recommend it for the efforts Cavanaugh has made to balance the scales of public opinion and to show an alternate point of view to the myth that religion is the chief cause of violence and war in the ancient and modern world.
This is a significant, very well-written book that deserves a wide reading. The story it tells is fascinating and important, and makes a valuable contribution to our reflections about religion and violence in the contemporary world. The unmasking of the modern, secular, liberal myth of religious violence is scrumptious. The one flaw in the book, in my view, is the author's having bought too uncritically into the "Talal Asad" account of "religion" being a modern invention.
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There is truth to that, properly understood. Cavanaugh falls into that and related elisions of what ought to be kept distinct in Chapter 2. A Theory of Religion Chicago, Even so, that flaw in no way undermines his larger argument, which is right in my view, very important, and powerful. If many people read this book and understood and worked out the significance of its message, the world would be a better place.
Alexa Actionable Analytics for the Web. Published on May 22, To learn more about Amazon Sponsored Products, click here. Published 7 months ago. The one flaw in the book, in my view, is the author's having bought too uncritically into the "Talal Asad" account of "religion" being a modern invention. What counts as religious or secular in any given context is a function of political configurations of power; 2 Such a transhistorical and transcultural concept of religion as non-rational and prone to violence is one of the foundational legitimating myths of Western society; 3 This myth can be and is used to legitimate neo-colonial violence against non-Western others, particularly the Muslim world.
As for myself, I plan to assign it in my graduate seminar in sociology of religion this fall, first week of classes, to help expand the vision of what we're even taking about and the assumptions we make about it. Many thanks to Cavanaugh for his good work in producing this book.
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First rate analysis, with an impressively-thorough engagement with the scholarly literature on the Reformation. The argument for violence as a byproduct, so to speak, of the emergence of the early modern state rather than as an expression of "religion" is powerful and though provoking. Should be mandatory reading for anyone interested in the topic of religion and violence, especially in the West.
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Published 7 months ago. Published 1 year ago. Published on December 11, Published on September 16, Published on February 18, Cavanaugh's Myth of Religious Violence is a disciplined, detailed and painstakingly thorough book that sets out to debunk the all-too-pervasive liberal myth: Merrick, University of Aberdeen. He effectively unveils the self-serving nature of secular liberal condescension toward religion.
Cavanaugh leaves us hard pressed to imagine how the notion of a privatized, internalized 'God of One's Own' could ever be part of the solution to a problem that it is responsible for inventing in the first place. Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.
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The Myth of Religious Violence
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