Chapter 1 Introduction: Powerful Medicine Chapter 2 The Unfolding Response to the Sacred Chapter 3 Religion's Violent Accomplices Chapter 4 Violence as a Sacred Duty Chapter 5 Militants for Peace Chapter 6 Reconciliation and the Politics of Forgiveness Chapter 7 Religion and Conflict Transformation Chapter 8 Religious Human Rights and Interreligious Peace Building Chapter 9 Ambivalence as Opportunity
R. Scott Appleby is professor of history at the University of Notre Dame, where he also directs the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism and serves as a fellow of the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.
Scott Appleby’s book provides a timely, clear, and highly
perceptive treatment of why and how religion has, especially since
the end of the Cold War, gravitated to the center of the discussion
of international affairs. . . . There is no doubt that this volume
will be the centerpiece henceforward of an important new discussion
on ‘religion, violence, and reconciliation.’
*David Little, United States Institute of Peace*
In this volume [Appleby] seeks to balance the overall picture by
focusing on the success stories and peacebuilding initiatives
buried inside the newspapers, embedded in a largely untold past,
and emerging piecemeal in the final years of this genocidal
century. This is a kind of compensatory history, urgently needed in
the contemporary debate, and it carries enormous implications for
the way we think about religion’s complex role, and undeniable
potential, in preventing deadly conflict and in rebuilding
communities shattered by violence.
*Theodore M. Hesburgh*
I have found myself deeply impressed by the persuasiveness of its
argument and by the wide-ranging case studies it contains. I can
here only hint at the rich and varied resourses he provides in
abundance to enable us to be both more faithful interpreters of our
own traditions and to be more strategic in our peacemaking.
*Fellowship*
Appleby is extremely knowledgeable about movements, conflicts and
personalities. Ambivalence of the Sacred contains rich veins of
information about the complex relationship of religion, violence
and peacemaking. It provides dozens of detailed portraits of
personalities and religious movements that put faces on anonymous
groups.
*America: The Jesuit Review of Faith & Culture*
In this current important book—not limited to conservative
movements— Appleby uses case studies, careful analysis, and a
highly readable narrative style to present religion's role in
contemporary peacemaking and warmaking.
*CHOICE*
Appleby’s book should be required reading for all academic
specialists in international relations and for practitioners of
diplomacy as well. It provides a careful study of the interaction
of religion with political life in many parts of the world today.
It does this with a strong understanding of the differences and
similarities among the major world religions and among the
different civilizational contexts within which these religions
function. . . . There is nothing quite like it for presenting the
plusses and minuses of the role of religion on the world stage
today.
*David Hollenbach S.J., Georgetown University*
Is a treasure trove of information on religious activists around
the world, many little known even to an informed public.
*The Christian Century*
Scott Appleby has produced a work of considerable scholarship as he
seeks to explore the painful and paradoxical relationship between
religion, destructive conflict and peace in the contemporary
world.
*Peace News*
Scott Appleby has produced a work of considerable scholarship as he
seeks to explore the painful and paradoxical relationship between
religion, destructive conflict and peace in the contemporary world.
The real ground-breaking value of this work lies in the exploration
of the variety of roles performed by religious institutions,
communities and individuals in conflict transformation.
*Ethnic Conflict Research Digest*
Richly researched and wide-ranging book. What Appleby has done in
this finely nuanced inquiry is to assemble an impressive array of
documentation, both historical and bibliographical, along with a
preliminary means of sorting out key variables. Students, teachers,
and people seeking to develop religious engagement in programs of
conflict transformation are all in his debt.
*Theological Studies*
This book is that rare thing, a scholarly work which also makes a
powerful impact on the interiority of the reader. It should be
required reading not only for diplomats and specialists in
international relations but also for religious studies
students.
*The Heythrop Journal*
In The Ambivalence of the Sacred, R. Scott Appleby expands the
definitions associated with religious organizations and clarifies
the roles they play in national politics, conflict and peace.
Appleby thoroughly supports his thesis. He establishes clear
definitions, argues powerfully for reconciliation and clearly
delineates the legitimiacy that religious activists wo pursue it
already enjoy.
*Military Review*
A rich and rewarding volume.
*Ethics: An International Journal of Social, Political, and Legal
Philosophy*
The book is scholarly, with ample references, but the topic is not
overly technical, and the writing is clear and accessible.
*Research News and Opportunities In Science and Theology*
For those weary of the secularist charge that religion has a unique
capacity to produce violence, Scott Appleby's new book is a
refreshing, moderate voice.
*Pro Ecclesia*
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