Holy terrors : thinking about religion after September 11 / Bruce Lincoln.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lincoln, Bruce

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001.

Terrorism--Religious aspects.

Terrorism.

Religion--Philosophy.

Religion.

Religion and culture.

Physical Description:

xiii, 146 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Edition:

Second edition.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2006.

Summary:

It is tempting to regard the perpetrators of the September 11th terrorist attacks as evil incarnate. But their motives, as Bruce Lincoln's acclaimed Holy Terrors makes clear, were profoundly and intensely religious. Thus what we need after the events of 9/11, Lincoln argues, is greater clarity about what we take religion to be.

Holy Terrors begins with a gripping dissection of the instruction manual given to each of the 9/11 hijackers. In their evocation of passages from the Quran, we learn how the terrorists justified acts of destruction and mass murder "in the name of God, the most merciful, the most compassionate." Lincoln then offers a provocative comparison of President Bush's October 7, 2001, speech announcing U.S. military action in Afghanistan alongside the videotaped speech released by Osama bin Laden just a few hours later. As Lincoln authoritatively demonstrates, a close analysis of the rhetoric used by leaders as diverse as George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden-as well as Mohamed Atta and even Jerry Falwell-betrays startling similarities. These commonalities have considerable implications for our understanding of religion and its interrelationships with politics and culture in a postcolonial world, implications that Lincoln draws out with skill and sensitivity.

With a chapter new to this edition, "Theses on Religion and Violence," Holy Terrors is one of the essential books on September 11 and a classic study on the character of religion.

Contents:

The study of religion in the current political moment

Symmetric dualisms: Bush and bin Laden on October 7

Jihads, Jeremiads, and the enemy within

On the relation of religion and culture

Religious conflict and the postcolonial state

Religion, rebellion, revolution

Theses on religion and violence.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 113-141) and index.

ISBN:

0226482030

9780226482033

OCLC:

63660051

Online:

Contributor biographical information

Publisher description