Fighting in God's Name: Religion and Conflict in Local-Global Perspectives(Conflict and Security in the Developing World)

This collection book provides a critical, inter-disciplinary exploration of the relationship between religion, conflict, violence, and tolerance from local-global perspectives. It focuses mainly on theoretical issues and approaches with contrasting case studies drawn from Africa, Europe, the Middle East, North America, and South Asia.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Religion and Conflict in Local-Global Perspectives Part I: Global Perspectives Chapter 1: Who Worries About Religious Violence? Images of Religion in Politics Under a Neoliberal Economic Regime Chapter 2 : Researching Religion and Violence: Reflections on Symbolic Interactionism and Fieldwork Chapter 3: Clash of Civilizations or Racializing Religion? Muslims and Membership in the United States and Europe Chapter 4: Religion and Conflict in a Globalised Cyber Sphere: Dynamics and Implications Chapter 5: Religion and Terrorism in Africa: The Challenge of Traditional Counterterrorism Strategies Chapter 6 :Expanding the Universe of Violence: A Discourse on the Linkage between Religion and Terrorism Part II: Local Perspectives Chapter 7: Waging War on Peace in Jos Plateau Communities: Traditional Strategies of Conflict Resolution and Management Chapter 8: Islamophobia or Space Contestation? Christian Churches and the Kadhi Courts Controversy during the Constitution Review Process in

About the Author :
Afe Adogame is the Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Religion and Society, and Chair of History and Ecumenics Department, Princeton Theological Seminary, New Jersey, USA. He is also Professor Extraordinaire at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa and author of The African Christian Diaspora (Bloomsbury Academic, 2013).

Review :
This book is a major contribution to the scholarly conversation on a topical issue of our time, religion, conflict and violence. A fascinating and splendid collection of interdisciplinary essays, the volume presents a variety of ideas, theoretical, historical, and sociological analysis in local, regional and national, and global contexts where religious conflict strives. A rich source of information for understanding the complexity of this phenomenon and providing meaningful insights on how best to curtail it, the volume is an invaluable text for scholars and ordinary citizens alike. This is a timely collection of essays that offers a novel insight into the role of religion in conflict situations. Bringing together global and local perspectives in one volume highlights the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to the intricate connection between religion and conflict. The volume provides a holistic explanatory framework that is both subtle and comprehensive. It is written in an accessible manner, suitable for a wider readership, and a helpful tool for students across disciplines. Religious conflict is one of the defining political and social issues of our time operating on a global scale and in the intimacy of local neighborhoods. In a series of case studies, Fighting in God’s Name explores this range, analyzing why the turn to violence has come about and the modes of dispute resolution communities are developing to combat it. It is an important intervention in an expanding field. Anecdotal association of religion with conflict can obscure the shifting ways in which both dynamically intersect; depending on the historical or cultural moment, religious agents and ideas can trigger a conflict, extend its duration, or facilitate its rapid resolution. Drawing on models, situations, and perspectives from Africa and other parts of the world, the insightful essays in this interdisciplinary collection offer a timely and critical lens into the mutual imbrication of religion and conflict. In the process, they explode some of the myths that have recently coalesced around the interaction of both. Fighting in God’s Name is a vital and welcome addition to the literature on a subject of increasing importance. Fighting in God’s Name: Religion and Conflict in Local-Global Perspectives challenges the prevailing twentieth century understanding of human society and its accoutrements. The editors have brought together interdisciplinary scholarship that reflect the complexities of the global age. The shift in emphasis from the general to the specific has enabled the authors to infuse fresh viewpoints into everyday narratives, which critiqued certain underlying assumptions that had ruled the roost for decades. Scholars of the future will forever be indebted to the editors and authors of this critical work that has contributed to a contemporary understanding of discourses on religion, conflict, terrorism, conflict resolution and gender issues. Scholars and researchers in the humanities and the social sciences will find this enormously analytical and interpretive work an invaluable reference source. This book should be read by anyone, especially policy-makers, seeking to de-escalate conflict. It offers what we need—calm, critical, and constructive challenges to neoliberal security-focused approaches to religious unrest. It is exceptional for casting a wide net to include Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and indigenous religions. The results are rich theoretical insights informed by case studies that highlight the important roles of non-state actors—faith leaders and organizations, women intermediaries, and lay ritualists—who foster peace in troubled times. Religious militancy is an ancient phenomenon. In biblical history, and the time of the Crusades and Islamic jihads, people of faith have either used forced conversions or resisted violent threats to their faiths and fought to preserve the interests of ultimate realities. Here is a book that serves well the scholarship on religion and violence in the contemporary world. It illustrates the phenomenon with very critical case studies of a religious phenomenon that cannot be overlooked in a world that has become, not just increasingly pluralistic, but also very militant in orientation.