'Terror in the Mind of God': The Global Rise of Religious Violence
by Mark Juergensmeyer

continued from Page One

In the last chapter of the book, Juergensmeyer addresses several fundamental questions about religion and violence:

1. Why would anyone believe that God could sanction terrorism?
2. Why has the rise of religion in recent years manifested itself in such a bloody way?
3. What, if anything, can be done about it?

His conclusions are grounded in both his extensive interviews and penetrating analysis:

“In order to respond to religious terrorism in a way that is effective and does not produce more terrorism in response, I believe it is necessary to understand why such acts occur. Behind this practical purpose in writing this book, however, is an attempt to understand the role that violence has always played in the religious imagination and how terror could be conceived in the mind of God.

These two purposes are connected. One of my conclusions is that this historical moment of global transformation has provided an occasion for religion – with all its images and ideas – to be reasserted as a public force. Lurking in the background of much of religion’s unrest and the occasion for its political revival, I believe, is the devaluation of secular authority and the need for alternative ideologies of public order. It may be one of the ironies of history, graphically displayed in incidents of terrorism, that the answers to the question of why the contemporary world still needs religion and why it has suffered such public acts of violence, are surprisingly the same.”

(Pages 14 and 15 of the Introduction.)

Mark Juergensmeyer is Professor of Sociology and Director of Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.