Violence in the Name of God: The Militant Jihadist Response to Modernity(Violence, Desire, and the Sacred)

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Introduction: Why Another Book on Jihadism? Part I 1 René Girard's Mimetic Theory 2 Violence in Modernity Part II 3 The Islamic Modernity 4 The Militant Jihadist Response to Modernity 5 The Rise of Violent Jihad 6 Jihadism and Violence 7 Violence and Identity 8 Sacred Jihadist Totalitarianism Part III 9 Why Is God Part of Human Violence? The Idolatrous Nature of Militant Jihadism 10 The Sacred and the Holy: Alternatives to Escalating Violence Appendix: René Girard at a Glance, Scott Cowdell, Chris Fleming, and Joel Hodge Glossary of Key Girardian Terms, Scott Cowdell, Chris Fleming, and Joel Hodge Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Joel Hodge is Senior Lecturer in Systematic Theology at Australian Catholic University, Australia. He is the author of Resisting Violence and Victimisation: Christian Faith and Solidarity in East Timor (2012) and co-editor of the series, Violence, Desire, and the Sacred.

Review :
Hodge's book is to be commended and is well worth engaging. The book is a masterly dissection of this complex and disconcerting topic… Hodge provides a lucid analysis of the core drivers that lead to terror, and offers carefully thought-out pathways in response … He exemplifies modern, informed Catholic scholarship at its best … I think Joel Hodge's book will be one of the best theological texts of 2020. [T]his is a superb book, well worth reading by anyone who is interested in developing a deeper understanding of how Muslim extremists can become derailed in the particular way their tradition allows for, and by anyone who wants to see René Girard's thought applied to the topic of Islamist violence, which Girard treated only briefly before his death in 2015. This book is well-researched, theoretically heft and insightful. It uncovers the underexplored potential of René Girard's theory of mimetic desire in explaining non-Christian cultures. This book brings an interesting perspective into conversation with the literature on terrorism – Girard is a committed Christian, and Hodge is employed by Australian Catholic University and has written extensively on Christian faith as a source of non-violent resistance to violent oppression. In a lucid and comprehensive study of violent jihad, Joel Hodge advances René Girard's mimetic theory of religiously sanctioned violence. Girard himself was not in a position to develop his intuition, that extreme Islamism is an attempt to 're-sacralize' violence; but Hodge makes the necessary connections, time and again. This book will be a standard reference point on this urgent theme. A careful and systematic analysis of the contemporary discussions on the relationship between religion and violence in the context of modernity. Hodge raises many unspoken questions courageously and brings new insights to this old topic. An interesting book which I strongly recommend to those who take this issue seriously. Violence in the Name of God brilliantly brings a new dimension to the debates of jihadism by showing militant jihadists' sacralization of violence. It invites readers to understand the identity and motivations of contemporary militant jihadism and its trajectories in Islamic and Western modernities. Readers will benefit from Dr. Hodge's mastery of Girard's mimetic desire and its application in understanding rivalry, victimhood, and scapegoating in the contemporary contexts of violent jihadism and terrorism. To understand Jihad-its origins, spread, dynamics, methods, aims, and prospects-from a position of powerful practical and theoretical insight, Hodge's bold yet measured study provides a reliable and accessible guide...Hodge ends his comprehensive, clear-eyed, unsentimental assessment with a summons to the better angels of our nature.