Martyrdom and Terrorism

Dominic Janes is Senior Lecturer in History of Art and Culture at Birkbeck College, University of London. Alex Houen is Senior University Lecturer in Modern Literature in the Faculty of English, University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Pembroke College.

• Contributors ; Acknowledgments ; List of Illustrations ; Introduction ; Part I: Martyrdom and Pre-Modern Violence ; 1. Kate Cooper, Martyrdom, Memory, and the "Media Event": Visionary Writing and Christian Apology in Second-Century Christianity ; 2. Asma Afsaruddin, Martyrdom in Islamic Thought and Praxis: A Historical Survey ; 3. Susannah Monta, Rendering unto Caesar: The Rhetorics of Divided Loyalties in Tudor England ; 4. Gary Waller, Kristeva's "New Knowledge": Terrorism, Martyrdom, and Psychoanalytic Humanism: Insights from Two Early Modern Instances. ; Part II: The French Revolution and the Invention of Terrorism ; 5. Julia V. Douthwaite, Martyrdom, Terrorism, and the Rhetoric of Sacrifice: The cases of Marat, Robespierre, and Loiserolles ; 6. David Andress, The Sentimental Construction of Martyrdom as Motivation in the Thought of Robespierre, 1789-1792 ; 7. Ronald Schechter, Terror, Vengeance and Martyrdom in the French Revolution: The Case of the Shades ; 8. Dominic Janes, John Foxe and British Attitudes to Martyrdom after the French Revolution ; Part III: Martyrdom, Terrorism and the Modern West ; 9. Guy Beiner, Fenianism and the Martyrdom-Terrorism Nexus in Ireland before Independence ; 10. Akil N. Awan, Spurning "this Worldly Life": Terrorism and Martyrdom in Contemporary Britain ; 11. Alex Houen, Martyrdom and Hostage Executions in the Iraq War: The Cases of Kenneth Bigley and Margaret Hassan ; 12. Jolyon Mitchell, Filming the Ends of Martyrdom ; Select Bibliography ; Index

This book offers an important and timely contribution to debates about terrorism. By tracing the meanings of martyrdom, sacrifice, and terrorism across a range of cultural and historical contexts, the essays in this book shed new light on the role of religion, secularism, and sovereignty in shaping our understanding of political violence.