Religion and Terrorism

Veronica Ward is associate professor of political science at Utah State University.Richard Sherlock is professor of philosophy at Utah State University.

• Introduction Richard Sherlock and Veronica WardChapter 1: Religious Terrorism and MonotheismRichard SherlockChapter 2: Martyrdom in the Three Monotheistic Religions: Historical Survey and Analysis Veronica WardChapter 3: From Religion to Terror: Christian Fundamentalism and Extremism Douglas PrattChapter 4: Jewish and North American Protestant Religious Violence: Contemporary Variations on an Ancient ThemeGideon AranChapter 5: How Religious is “Islamic” Religious Terrorism?John David Payne, Donna Lee Bowen and Joseph WoolstenhulmeChapter 6: Hasan Al-Banna, the Art of Death and Contemporary Muslim Ideologies of MartyrdomDaniel BrownChapter 7: The Role of Religion and Religious Teachings in Al-QaedaMbaye Lo

The urgent necessity of understanding exactly how contemporary terrorism is motivated by monotheism is the focus of this important collection. The topic requires conceptual clarification, doctrinal precision and historical attention to the interplay between doctrine and political and cultural circumstances. These essays, taken individually and as a whole, get the mix of these tasks just right, and the result is an important and readable contribution to the discussion. Required reading-not only for policy makers dealing with security concerns, but also for all the religiously serious descendants of Abraham.