The Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence, and Reconciliation

By R. Scott Appleby and Scott R. Appleby

Book Overview

Terrorists and peacemakers may grow up in the same community and adhere to the same religious tradition. The killing carried out by one and the reconciliation fostered by the other indicate the range of dramatic and contradictory responses to human suffering by religious actors. This book explains what religious terrorists and religious peacemakers share in common, what causes them to take different paths in fighting injustice, and how a deeper understanding of religious extremism can and must be integrated more effectively into our thinking about tribal, regional, and international conflict.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0847685551
• ISBN13: 9780847685554
• Release Date: November 1999
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 1.43 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Fascinating text

R. Scott Appleby's work is a deeply intriguing in-depth study of the role that religious actors presently play in international politics, exploring both positive functions filled and negative. He also outlines ways in which actors might be involved in beneficial capacities in the future. In my reasonably limited experience, this text constitutes perhaps the most even-handed treatment of its subject material, and has served men as a very valuable resource. Recommended highly for students of international politics.