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Loading... The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflictby William T. Cavanaugh
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict. William T. Cavanaugh. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Reviewed by Jake Wilson That religion is violent seems to be a given. In the past month, each time I told a parishioner that I was reading a book called ‘The Myth of Religious Violence’ I was met with the same blank stare ‘The Myth?’ they would ask? Who would doubt that religion is prone to violence? The evidence seems to be on every nightly news program. In his latest book William Cavanaugh challenges the claim that religion is prone to violence in a surprising way. Rather than working to show that religion is non-violent Cavanaugh goes to the source of the myth, the modern distinction between religious and secular phenomena. The book begins by reviewing nine prominent proponents of the idea that religion is given to violence and finds that each argument fails to adequately name the distinction between religious and secular violence. Cavanaugh goes on to critique the commonly accepted concept of religion as transcultural and transhistorical by providing a history of the concept of religion from its medieval origins to its use in the modern west. Since September 11th 2001 a host of bestselling authors have benefited from a nearly universal agreement that religion is prone to violence. This book is not meant to capitalize on that fervor or defend religion against its cultured despisers. The strength of the book is the way it shows the language of religious violence to be more than just a myth or anachronistic but truly dangerous. The myth of religious violence portrays some forms of violence as essentially irrational while distracting attention from and at the same time legitimizing secular violence which is deemed necessary, rational, and in many cases laudable. For those interested in exploring the history and the consequences of our current discourse on religion and violence this book is a must read. The idea that religion has a dangerous tendency to promote violence is part of the conventional wisdom of Western societies, and it underlies many of our institutions and policies, from limits on the public role of religion to efforts to promote liberal democracy in the Middle East. William T. Cavanaugh challenges this conventional wisdom by examining how the twin categories of religion and the secular are constructed. no reviews | add a review
Cavanaugh challenges conventional wisdom by examining how the twin categories of religion and the secular are constructed. He examines how timeless and transcultural categories of 'religion and 'the secular' are used in arguments that religion causes violence. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)201.76332Religions Religion Religious mythology, general classes of religion, interreligious relations and attitudes, social theology Attitudes of religions toward social issues Social problems and servicesLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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This book is relevent to students of current affairs, students of the history of religion and of the study of ideas about religion. It is a little overwritten in parts, repeating some ideas in several places, but overall the arguement is clear and the evidence persuasive.The book includes endnotes and an index, but no bibliography.