How Violence Shapes Religion
Belief and Conflict in the Middle East and Africa

Religion and violence are intrinsic to the human story. By tracing their roots in human experience, Meral reveals that it is violence that shapes religion.

Ziya Meral (Author)

9781108429009, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 23 August 2018

224 pages
23.5 x 15.7 x 1.5 cm, 0.5 kg

'In How Violence Shapes Religion, Ziya Meral turns conventional assumptions about the relationship between religion and militancy on their head. His careful and thorough case studies demonstrate that the question - indeed, the very direction - of causality between faith and violence is anything but straightforward. This is a must-read for anyone - scholars, students, policymakers - wishing to understand the complex sociology of religion and violence in the contemporary world.' Peter Mandaville, George Mason University, Virginia

Is there an inevitable global violent clash unfolding between the world's largest religions: Islam and Christianity? Do religions cause violent conflicts, or are there other factors at play? How can we make sense of increasing reports of violence between Christian and Muslim ethnic communities across the world? By seeking to answer such questions about the relationship between religion and violence in today's world, Ziya Meral challenges popular theories and offers an alternative explanation, grounded on insights inferred from real cases of ethno-religious violence in Africa and the Middle East. The relationship between religion and violence runs deep and both are intrinsic to the human story. Violence leads to and shapes religion, while religion acts to enable violence as well as providing responses that contain and prevent it. However, with religious violence being one of the most serious challenges facing the modern world, Meral shows that we need to de-globalise our analysis and focus on individual conflicts, instead of attempting to provide single answers to complex questions.

1. Introduction
2. Religious violence in Nigeria
3. Religious violence in Egypt
4. Comparative analysis of violence in Nigeria and Egypt
5. Religion and violence in a global age.

Subject Areas: Sociology [JHB], Religion & politics [HRAM2], African history [HBJH], Middle Eastern history [HBJF1], Peace studies & conflict resolution [GTJ]