HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Loading...

The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict

by William T. Cavanaugh

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations
1424191,119 (4.88)None
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.
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

English (3)  Dutch (1)  All languages (4)
Showing 3 of 3
Cavanaugh makes three main points: that the category of religion is not universal and that therefore, branding particular incidents of violence as religous is problematic; that the history of the European wars of religion has been distorted by both Enlightenment and modern thinkesr to lead Westerners to view secular governments as rescuers from sectarian violence and to make allegience to the modern state seem the only alternative to constant conflict; and that these beliefs have enabled secular Western states to label third world non-secular states as irrational and in need of rescue from their backward condition. Much of the latter discussion centers on relations with Muslim territories. However, the author is careful not to claim that this myth of religion as uniquely violent is deliberate propaganda.

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.
  ritaer | Jan 8, 2012 |
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. ( )
  wilsojd2 | Feb 4, 2010 |
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.
  StFrancisofAssisi | May 21, 2019 |
Showing 3 of 3
no reviews | add a review
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (2)

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.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (4.88)
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5 2
5 6

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,186,476 books! | Top bar: Always visible