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1 - Violence and Religion in Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

David G. Bromley
Affiliation:
Professor of Sociology and an Affiliate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies Virginia Commonwealth University
J. Gordon Melton
Affiliation:
Founder and director Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa Barbara, California; Research Specialist in the Department of Religious Studies University of California, Santa Barbara
David G. Bromley
Affiliation:
Virginia Commonwealth University
J. Gordon Melton
Affiliation:
Institute for the Study of American Religion
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Summary

The relationship between religion and violence has been a subject of rapidly growing interest and concern to social scientists studying a broad range of religious groups and traditions. Violent acts and relationships are extremely diverse, of course, and so it is not surprising that the burgeoning literature on religion and violence incorporates analyses of numerous types of violence, groups, and contexts. A number of distinctions are conventionally drawn in distinguishing forms of violence. Violence is variously conceptualized as an act, a process, or a relationship. Violence may involve individual actions, as in the personal murder of one member of a religious group by another, an outsider by an insider, or an insider by an outsider. It may also involve collective action by or against a group, as in the cases of war, revolution, repression, and terrorism. Violence may or may not explicitly invoke religious objectives. For example, an individual who is a member of a religious group may simply be the perpetrator or victim of an act of violence, with no connection to a religious purpose, or violent acts may have a specific religious goal, such as assassination of a spiritual leader or execution for heresy. Violence may occur within the confines of a group, as in the case of schismatic conflict; it may also occur across institutional boundaries, as when the religious group is the target of political repression or the instigator of an attack against societal institutions.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2002

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  • Violence and Religion in Perspective
    • By David G. Bromley, Professor of Sociology and an Affiliate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies Virginia Commonwealth University, J. Gordon Melton, Founder and director Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa Barbara, California; Research Specialist in the Department of Religious Studies University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Edited by David G. Bromley, Virginia Commonwealth University, J. Gordon Melton
  • Book: Cults, Religion, and Violence
  • Online publication: 09 July 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511499326.002
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  • Violence and Religion in Perspective
    • By David G. Bromley, Professor of Sociology and an Affiliate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies Virginia Commonwealth University, J. Gordon Melton, Founder and director Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa Barbara, California; Research Specialist in the Department of Religious Studies University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Edited by David G. Bromley, Virginia Commonwealth University, J. Gordon Melton
  • Book: Cults, Religion, and Violence
  • Online publication: 09 July 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511499326.002
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Violence and Religion in Perspective
    • By David G. Bromley, Professor of Sociology and an Affiliate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies Virginia Commonwealth University, J. Gordon Melton, Founder and director Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa Barbara, California; Research Specialist in the Department of Religious Studies University of California, Santa Barbara
  • Edited by David G. Bromley, Virginia Commonwealth University, J. Gordon Melton
  • Book: Cults, Religion, and Violence
  • Online publication: 09 July 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511499326.002
Available formats
×