The Blackwell Companion to Religion and Violence offers a state-of-the-art overview of this diverse subject. This timely volume brings together an international, interdisciplinary group of scholars who probe the complex relationship between religion and violence, now and in the past.

Part I. "Religion" and "Violence": Defining Terms, Defining Relationships.

1. Religion and Violence: Coming to Terms with the Terms (John D. Carlson, Arizona State University).

2. The Myth of Religious Violence (William T. Cavanaugh, DePaul University, Chicago).

Part II. Disciplinary Perspectives.

3. An Economic Approach to Religion and Violence (Anthony Gill, University of Washington).

4. Religion, Identity and Violence: Some Theoretical Reflections (Aziz Esmail, Institute of Ismaili Studies, London).

5. An Anthropological Approach to Religion and Violence (Bettina E. Schmidt, Bangor University, Wales).

6. An Evolutionary Perspective: Spiritual Devotion and Self-Annihilation (Ariel Glucklich, Georgetown University).

7. The Sociology of Religious Violence (Charles Selengut, Drew University, New Jersey).

8. Religion, Law and Violence (David E. Guinn, Center for International Development - SUNY).

9. Mediating Religious Violence (Jolyon Mitchell, University of Edinburgh).

10. Look Both Ways: Gender in the Production of Religious and Secular Violence (Janet R. Jakobsen, Barnard College, Columbia University).

11. Explaining Religious Violence: Retrospects and Prospects (Hector Avalos, Professor of Religious Studies, Iowa State University).

Part III. Traditions and Movements, Concepts and Themes.

12. Christianity and Violence (Jonathan Ebel, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).

13. Genesis 34 and the Legacies of Biblical Violence (Elliott Horowitz, Bar Ilan University).

14. Islam and Violence (Beverley Milton-Edwards, Queen's University Belfast).

15. Religion and Violence in Hindu Traditions (Jeffery D. Long, Elizabethtown College).

16. Buddhism and Symbolic Violence (Bernard Faure, Columbia University).

17. Religion, Violence, and Shintō (Walter Skya, University of Alaska-Fairbanks).

18. Confucian Ethical Action and the Boundaries of Peace and War (Don J. Wyatt, Middlebury College).

19. Violence in Chinese Religious Culture (Barend J. ter Haar, University of Leiden, Netherlands).

20. The Dialectic of Violence in Jainism (Christopher Chapple, Loyola Marymount).

21. Just War and Jihad of the Sword (James Turner Johnson, Rutgers University).

22. Jihad and Martyrdom in Classical and Contemporary Islam (David Cook, Rice University).

23. The Psychology of Contemporary Religious Terrorism (James W. Jones, Rutgers University).

24. Pragmatic Responses: the Transformation of Failure and the Spiritualisation of Violence (Ian Reader, University of Manchester).

25. Sacrifice and Violence (Kathryn McClymond, Georgia State University).

26. History, Humiliation, and Religious Violence (Ellen Posman, Baldwin-Wallace College).

27. Reconceptualizing Totalitarianism and Fascism (Robert Imre, University of Newcastle).

Part V. Case Studies: Religion and Violence, Past and Present.

28. Enduring the Sacred Scars of Slavery (Yolanda Pierce, Princeton Theological Seminary).

29. South Asia: From Colonial Categories to a Crisis of Faith? (Yasmin Khan, Lecturer in Politics, Royal Holloway, University of London).

30. Gender, Religion and Violence During the Holocaust (Judith Baumel-Schwartz, Bar-Ilan University).

31. Women in the Sastric Tradition: Colonialism, Law, and Violence (Nandini Bhattacharyya-Panda, Indian Council of Historical Research).

32. Biblical Metaphors, Violent Intervention, and American Identity in the Spanish-American War (Matthew McCullough, Vanderbilt University).

33. Militant Islam, Islamic Law, and National Disintegration in Sudan (Jok Madut Jok, Loyola Marymount University).

34. The Battle for Australia: Salvation and Conquest (Marion Maddox, Macquarie University).

35. Religious-based Violence against Women, and Feminist Responses: Iran, Afghanistan, and Algeria (Valentine M. Moghadam. Purdue University).

36. Anti-Jewish Violence in Late Imperial Russia (Robert Weinberg, Swarthmore College).

37. Religion, Pluralism, and Conflict in the Pacific Islands (Yannick Fer, Groupe Sociétés, Religions, Laïcités).

38. Ritual Violence and Violent Ritual in Chinese Popular Religion (Avron Boretz, The United Board).

39. The Politics of Protestant Violence: Abolitionists and Anti-Abortionists (Joel Olson, Northern Arizona University).

40. Religion and violence in Africa (Ben Jones, University of East Anglia).

41. Rethinking Religion and Politics in the Middle East (Jeroen Gunning, University of Durham).

42. The Rhetoric of Puritan Violence (Andrew R. Murphy, Rutgers University, New Brunswick).

Part VI. Future prospects: Beyond violence?

43. Liberation from Violence (Thia Cooper, Gustavus Adolphus College).

44. Why Nonviolence? The American Tradition (Ira Chernus, University of Colorado at Boulder).

45. Religious Peacebuilding (Maria Pilar Aquino, University of San Diego).

The Blackwell Companion to Religion and Violence offers a state-of-the-art overview of this diverse and crucially important subject. This timely volume brings together an international, interdisciplinary group of scholars who probe the complex relationship between religion and violence, now and in the past. Media accounts often announce the inherent connections between 'fanatical' believers and terroristic violence; but scholars have long recognized that such links are only one small part of a larger and more complex set of interactions. They argue that religious beliefs and practices are just as likely to provide resources for comfort and coping as to encourage violence and carnage.

The volume is divided into several major sections: Traditions and Movements, Disciplinary Perspectives, Concepts and Themes, and Case Studies, which explore specific incidences of both religious violence and instances where religion has contributed to the resistance of violence. A concluding section offers insights into the future direction of scholarship in the area. It also includes discussions of the ongoing importance of religion to terrorism, and religious competition and conflict in Africa. Each section offers high-quality, cutting-edge scholarship, as leading authorities seek to make sense of the problematic correlation between these two forces.

"The Blackwell Companion to Religion and Violence is a landmark volume, finely structured and beautifully executed. The essays in this outstanding collection bring much-needed precision to the discussion of religion and violence and prompt a multitude of questions about how and why we study it. The geographic framework is wonderfully expansive – there are detailed studies of cultures from throughout the world – and the disciplinary breadth is unparalleled in any recent reference work on religion. The most striking aspect of this volume, however, is the reflexivity that it brings to the study of religion and violence. In clear and engaging prose, these essays, taken together, challenge pat understandings of the topic by daring the reader to rethink the point of studying it. The collection amply and enviably demonstrates how strong editorial direction, which is lacking in many similar volumes, is crucial to shaping a book that is both scholarly and accessible to a broad readership."
—John Corrigan, Lucius Moody Bristol Distinguished Professor, Florida State University

Notes on Contributors Acknowledgments Introduction: Andrew R. Murphy (Rutgers) Part I: ?Religion? and ?Violence?: Defining Terms, Defining Relationships Part II: Disciplinary Perspectives Part III: Traditions and Movements, Concepts and Themes Part IV: Case Studies: Religion and Violence, Past and Present Part V: Future Prospects: Beyond Violence? Index