Religion, Terror and Violence

Bryan Rennie is Vira I. Heinz Professor of Religion, and Chair of the Department of Religion, History, Philosophy, and Classics Westminster College. His publications include Reconstructing Eliade: Making Sense of Religion (1996), (editor) Changing Religious Worlds: The Meaning and End of Mircea Eliade (2001), (editor) Mircea Eliade: A Critical Reader (Equinox Press, 2006), and (editor) The International Eliade (SUNY Press, 2007). Philip L. Tite is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Early Christian Literature and History, Department of Religious Studies, Willamette University. His previous publications include Compositional Transitions in 1 Peter: An Analysis of the Letter-Opening (1997) and Conceiving Peace and Violence: A New Testament Legacy (2004).

'"Religion, Terror, and Violence" is a timely collection on an urgent set of issues. Paul Christopher Johnson's essay, skillfully combining theory, intellectual history, ethnographic observation and social criticism is, by itself, more than worth the price of admission. Maureen Korp's descriptive meditation on art and artists in response to 9/11 extends the intense interest by a number of contemporary students of religion in memorialization and memory to include other media, along with the architectural- a pioneering contribution, enriching this nascent field.' Jonathan Z. Smith is Robert O. Anderson Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, USA 'The 9/11 attacks catapulted questions about the relation of religion to violence into the center of public discourse. What is the role of the religion scholar in that public conversation? This superb collection of twenty essays by engaged scholars and renowned public intellectuals--comparativists, historians, theologians, experts in myth and method as well as social and political thought--addresses this important question. The contributors offer unique perspectives on the religion-violence connection by attending not only to history, social dynamics and religious traditions, including Islam and Buddhism, but by poking around in less often visited areas of investigation: rhetoric, pedagogy, and aesthetics. This broad-minded, methodologically diverse collection of first-rate essays is a welcome addition to an expanding literature on religiously inspired violence, which is certainly among the preeminent issues of our time.' Lloyd Steffen is Professor of Religious Studies at Lehigh University, USA, and author of "Holy War, Just War: Exploring the Moral Meaning of Religious Violence "

• Introduction Sacred Violence and the Scholar of Religion as Public Intellectual Philip L. Tite Explanatory Approaches to Violence and Religion Violence Internal and External Robert Segal Rhetorical Reflections Savage Civil Religion Paul Christopher Johnson The Rhetoric of Evil and Eradicating Terrorism Caryn D. Riswold The Tricks and Treats of Classification: Searching for the Heart of Authentic Islam Russell T. McCutcheon Discussion: Rhetorical Reflections Anna S. King Theological Reflections A New Paradigm of International Relations? Reflections After September 11, 2001 Hans Küng Can Love Save the World? Walter Wink Discussion: Theological Reflections Samuel M. Powell Historical and Social Reflections Religious Terror and Global War Mark Juergensmeyer Jihad and Islamic History Jonathan E. Brockopp The Roots of Public Attitudes Toward State Accommodation of European Muslims’ Religious Practices Before and After September 11 Joel S. Fetzer and J. Christopher Soper Terrorism From a Buddhist Perspective Martin Adam and Wayne Codling Discussion: Historical and Social Reflections Michel Desjardins Pedagogical and Professional Reflections Teaching Islam Through and After September 11th: Towards a Progressive Muslim Agenda Omid Safi. Islam Within the Context of Higher Education Zayn Kassam Thoughts on Being a Muslim Scholar of Islam in America Post-9/11 Amir Hussain Discussion: Pedagogical and Professional Reflections Susan E.Henking Aesthetic Reflections Seeing What is Missing: Art, Artists, and September 11 Maureen Korp Concluding Reflections Religion, Violence, and the Pursuit of Truth Bryan Rennie