Thinking About Religion and Violence

By: The Great Courses

Narrated by: Professor Jason C. Bivins PhD

In a world where violence in the name of religion can impact so many other people's lives, it's critical to understand the intersection between religion and violence. What's required is not to see religion as inherently violent but to recognize that the violence associated with religious groups and communities is worth exploring and interrogating.

In these 24 lectures, embark on a global, multidisciplinary investigation of religious violence. Delivered with honesty and sensitivity to the diversity of spiritual beliefs, these lectures examine the roots of this phenomenon and guide you toward more informed ways of thinking about it.

You'll consider how faiths like Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism view concepts like human sacrifice, martyrdom, and penitence; the ways religious violence can be directed toward specific races and genders; concepts like heresy, witch hunting, and demonology; and more. You'll probe complex ideas and concepts that will help you fashion your own interpretations, such as "religion", "Other-ing", and "cult." And you'll burrow deep into both current issues relating to religious violence - as well as their historical and conceptual sources.

Professor Bivins doesn't take a clinical or pessimistic approach to the material. Rather, he's an engaging on-screen presence with a fierce open-mindedness to the varieties of religious experience. He's also optimistic about what we can learn from a comprehensive study of religious violence. And at the individual level, it starts with approaching the topic in a way that's immersive, insightful, thorough, and important for our times.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2018 The Great Courses (P)2018 The Teaching Company, LLC

Huh

Nice book for adults and family ages and adults are not looking at the same as a family

Amazing

A great truth journey into history. I am looking forward to more of his lectures.

Violence in Islam

I would like to address some of the criticism I’ve seen in these reviews. In particular, the criticism that the speaker doesn’t talk enough about or harshly enough about violence in Islam. This seems to me to be not at all accurate. In fact, the speaker spends just as much time talking about Islam as they do about Christianity. They do not make excuses for Islamic violence. However, they do try to combat the misconception that Islam is inherently more violent that other religions, positing that Islam has the capacity for both peace and violence, just like every other religion they discuss throughout the lectures. Overall this was a very interesting and informative lecture series.

Intriguing

I loved this course, learned so much! I plan on listening again soon & sharing with my friends.

I Gave it A Five With Reservations

I love Great Courses and enjoyed this one also.
Reservations:
1. Skip chapter 19…author talks about Islam and leaves out quite a bit.
2. The professor considers himself privileged male …chapter 24… discounting the decisions he made to better himself…decisions everyone can make in America.
3. Lastly, the professor never discusses what abrogation means in Islam

Other than that, well worth your time