Does Religion Cause Violence?

Scott Cowdell is Research Professor in Public and Contextual Theology at Charles Sturt University, Australia, and Canon Theologian of the Canberra-Goulburn Anglican Diocese. He is the author of René Girard and Secular Modernity (2013) and President of the Australian Girard Seminar.Chris Fleming is Associate Professor in Philosophy and Anthropology at Western Sydney University, Australia. He is the author of René Girard: Violence and Mimesis (2004) and Vice-President of the Australian Girard Seminar.Joel Hodge is Senior Lecturer in Systematic Theology at Australian Catholic University, Australia. He is the author of Resisting Violence and Victimisation: Christian Faith and Solidarity in East Timor (2012) and Treasurer of the Australian Girard Seminar.Carly Osborn is a Research Fellow at the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions at the University of Adelaide, Australia, and Secretary of the Australian Girard Seminar.

[The] essays in the volume offer something that is often lacking in scholarship in the area: a sustained interrogation of the question of religion and violence anchored in a theoretically rich thinker … [A] thoughtful and critical engagement on the relationship between religion and violence through dialogue with the life works of René Girard.

• Notes on ContributorsIntroductionPart 1: Does Religion Cause Violence? 1. Girard and the Myth of Religious ViolenceWilliam T. Cavanaugh (De Paul University, USA)2. The Complex Relationship Between Violence and Religion: A Response to William T. Cavanaugh's "Girard and the Myth of Religious Violence”Petra Steinmair-Pösel (University of Vienna, Austria)3. Why Is God Part of Human Violence? The Idolatrous Nature of Modern Religious ExtremismJoel Hodge (Australian Catholic University, Australia)4. Love Your Enemies: God's New World OrderAnthony J. Kelly (Australian Catholic University, Australia)Part 2: Violence and Deterrence in the Modern World5. "The War to End All Wars": Mimetic Theory and "Mounting to the Extremes" in a Time of DisasterSandor Goodhart (Purdue University, USA)6. The Sacred is Back—But As SimulacrumJean-Pierre Dupuy (École Polytechnique, France / Stanford University, USA)7. Forms of the Sacred and the Texture of HopeSarah Bachelard (Australian Catholic University, Australia)8. The End of Politics?Chris Fleming (Western Sydney University, Australia)9. Rites of Expulsion: Violence Against Heretics in Early Modern Catholic FranceCarly Osborn (University of Adelaide, Australia)Part 3: Islamic Terrorism: A Case Study of Contemporary "Religious Violence"10. Islam and Violence: Debunking the MythsAsma Afsaruddin (Indiana University, USA)11. Violence, Religion, and the Sacred: In Dialogue with Asma Afsaruddin's "Islam and Violence: Debunking the Myths"Paul Dumouchel (Ritsumeikan University, Japan)12. Religion, Radicalization, and Violent Extremism?Julian Droogan (Macquarie University, Australia) and Lise Waldek (Macquarie University, Australia)13. Religious Extremism, Terrorism and Islam: A Mimetic PerspectiveWolfgang Palaver (University of Innsbruck, Austria)14. The Jihadist Current and the West: Politics, Theology, and the Clash of ConceptualityJonathan Cole (Charles Sturt University, Australia)Appendix: René Girard at a GlanceGlossary of Key Girardian TermsFurther ReadingIndex