Martyrdom, Self-Sacrifice, and Self-Immolation: Religious Perspectives on Suicide

Suicide in the forms of martyrdom, self-sacrifice, or self-immolation is perennially controversial: Should it rightly be termed suicide? Does religion sanction it? Should it be celebrated or anathematized? At least some idealization of such self-chosen deaths is found in every religious tradition treated in this volume, from ascetic heroes who conquer their passions to save others by dying, to righteous warriors who suffer and die valiantly while challenging the status quo. At the same time, there are persistent disputes about the concepts used to justify these deaths, such as altruism, heroism, and religion itself. In this volume, renowned scholars bring their literary and historical expertise to bear on the contested issue of religiously sanctioned suicide. Three examine contemporary movements with disputed classical roots, while eleven look at classical religious literatures which variously laud and disparage figures who invite self-harm to the point of death. Overall, the volume offers an important scholarly corrective to the axiom that religious traditions simply and always embrace life at any cost.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction: On Death, Religion, and Rubrics for Suicide Margo Kitts 2. To Die For: The Evolution of Early Jewish Martyrdom Shmuel Shepkaru 3. Performing Christian Martyrdoms Gail Streete 4. Collective Martyrdom and Religious Suicide: The Branch Davidians and Heaven's Gate Catherine Wessinger 5. Martyrdom and its Contestations in the Formative Period of Islam Asma Afsaruddin 6. The Death of Musa al- Kazim (d. 184/799): Knowledge and Suicide in Early Twelver Shi'ism Najam Haider 7. Apologia for Suicide: Martyrdom in Contemporary Jihadist Discourse Mohammed M. Hafez 8. Hindu Ascetic Death Mary Storm 9. Sati David Brick 10. Dying Heroically: Jainism and the Ritual Fast to Death Anne Vallely 11. The Tropics of Heroic Death: Martyrdom and the Sikh Tradition Louis E. Fenech 12. The Meanings of Sacrifice: The LTTE, Suicide, and the Limits of the Religion Question Benjamin Schonthal 13. To Extract the Essence from this Essenceless Body: Self-Sacrifice and Self-Immolation in Indian Buddhism Reiko Ohnuma 14. Reflection on Self-Immolation in Chinese Buddhist and Daoist Traditions Jimmy Yu 15. Relinquishing the Body to Reach the Pure Land: Buddhist Ascetic Suicide in Premodern Japan Jacquelyn I. Stone

About the Author :
Margo Kitts is Professor and Coordinator of Religious Studies and East-West Classical Studies at Hawai'i Pacific University. She is the author or editor of six books and over 30 articles dealing with ancient literature and/or religion and violence. She edits the Journal of Religion and Violence, and co-edits the monograph series, Cambridge Elements of Religion and Violence.

Review :
"...this anthology offers a rich survey of attitudes toward suicide in the Hebrew Bible and early Jewish texts, early Christian traditions, several periods of Islam, Indian traditions including Buddhism, Jainism, and the Sikhs, Chinese Taoist and Buddhist traditions,and Pure Land Buddhism in pre-modern Japan. ...Kitts' anthology constitutes a rich source for undertaking such analysis in a broad, comparative perspective." -- Eugene V. Gallagher,, Nova Religio "Martyrdom, Self-Sacrifice and Self-Immolation is a superlative volume which belongs in personal libraries as well as institutional ones." -- Margaret Cormack, Journal of Religion and Violence "Kitts has recruited a first-rate lineup of scholars who cover a vast array of classical and contemporary texts. The volume, however, remains tightly focused and cohesive...[T]his book, with copious works cited lists for each chapter, is recommended for scholars researching the nexus of religion and voluntary death." --Christopher Denny, Reading Religion "Why would people want to kill themselves on behalf of God? Behind the troubling scenes of suicide bombers and burning monks are complex religious histories of martyrdom. This remarkable collection of authoritative essays covers all aspects of this perplexing topic in every religious tradition, ranging from early history to the present. This important volume forces us to think anew about the awesome power of the religious imagination."-Mark Juergensmeyer, author of Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence