The field of study which collectively examines religion and how it relates to historical instances of genocide is a relatively new one in the academic world. Two early scholars in the field are widely accepted as penning some of the most influential essays in the field: Leo Kuper and his essay, Theological Warrants for Genocide: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity; Leonard Glick and his essay, Religion and Genocide. These two works would go on to be considered seminal in the field and many following scholars would utilize the notions within them to further the study of religion and genocide. Kuper and Glick, respectively, focus in their essays on the concepts of theological warrants for genocide and the interconnectedness of religion and ethnicity …show more content…
He separates these warrants into two main categories: secular and theological. Examples of secular warrants which Kuper describes are the bio-racial warrants used by the Nazis to persecute the Jews, the historical perspective warrants used by Communist leaders to liquidate the bourgeoisie, and the economic warrants of capitalism used by the British government to let the Irish die en masse in the Great Famine (Kuper, 2009, pg. 5-6). On the topic of theological warrants, Kuper points to the Puritans and their Canaanite appellations upon the Native Americans of the time, then to the medieval European acts of violence towards Jews. However, Kuper is quick to note that in most cases theological warrants alone are not enough to spark up genocides. He describes how “only under a particular combination of social forces is the sacred legitimation activated (Kuper, 2009, pg.5).” Kuper makes of point of explaining the distinct aspect of theological warrants which sets them apart from those warrants of the secular realm: “it is probably in the rewards, the punishments, and the dichotomies that the religious, other-worldly realm outstrips the secular dispensations of this world (Kuper, 2009, pg.6).” Kuper goes on to discuss Judaism, Islam, and Christianity in turn. He notes instances …show more content…
Glick places a great deal of emphasis on the interconnectedness of ethnicity and religion. His essay opens by discussing a small, insular tribe of people known as the Apa Tani, whom he finds to be the perfect example of what he calls a “localized” religion wherein “the distinction between “religion” and “culture” is essentially meaningless (Glick, 2009, pg.96).” Glick places this tribe in the position of acting as a microcosmic representation of the origin of ethnocentricity in all human societies. He then states how ethnocentricity in localized traditions tends to produce violent outcomes up to and including raids of “proto-genocidal intent (Glick, 2009, pg.97).” His discussion then moves, much like Kuper’s, to the religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Glick places Judaism in this aforementioned category of localized traditions, despite its widespread nature which he attributes to being a result of the Diaspora of the Jews (Glick, 2009, pg.97). He then establishes an opposing category of universalist traditions, to which Christianity and Islam belong. Glick clarifies the differences between the two: localized traditions are ones where the religious and ethnic identity are so bound up in each other “that conversion to the religion without incorporation into the ethnic community is a logical
Stanton, Gregory H. "Genocides and Conflicts." World Without Genocide. World Without Genocide, 7 May 2013. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. .
Religion is a part of society that is so closely bound to the rest of one’s life it becomes hard to distinguish what part of religion is actually being portrayed through themselves, or what is being portrayed through their culture and the rest of their society. In Holy Terrors, Bruce Lincoln states that religion is used as a justifiable mean of supporting violence and war throughout time (Lincoln 2). This becomes truly visible in times such as the practice of Jihad, the Reformation, and 9/11. The purpose of this essay is to show that as long as religion is bound to a political and cultural aspect of a community, religious war and destruction will always occur throughout the world. A historical methodology will be deployed in order to gain
This essay will review Daniel Goldhagen’s controversial moral inquiry, ‘A Moral Reckoning: The Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and Its Unfulfilled Duty of Repair’, published in 2002. Goldhagen attended Harvard University as a graduate, undergraduate and assistant professor until he was denied tenure in 2003; this possibly indicates his limited status as an academic. Goldhagen notes that he is ‘indebted’ to his father, a Holocaust survivor, for some of his findings on the Holocaust. This personal connection to the Holocaust on the one hand allows Goldhagen to write more passionately. On the other hand, it obscures his ability to view evidence objectively, evident in this book under review. Goldhagen status rose to notoriety due to the controversial nature of his first book, ‘Hitler’s Willing Executioners’ published in 1996. This received much criticism and perhaps more importantly to Goldhagen, plenty of publicity. The contentious assertions of the book, whether academically valid or not, established the relative novice amongst historians. This is evident in the abundance of secondary literature that comments on Goldhagen’s work including that edited by F. Littell and F. Kautz. Goldhagen’s credentials as a controversial author explain the extremist content of his second book, ‘A Moral Reckoning’. Goldhagen’s academic background in political science is evident in the books emphasis on the church as a ‘political institution’ and the pope as a ‘political leader’ (p. 184). . This limits his work as a historian as he fails to fully examine the role of the individual.
an And The Controversy Over The Bombing Of Auschwitz." Journal Of Ecumenical Studies 40.4 (2003): 370-380. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Jan. 2014 Rice, Rondall. "
The. Gunter, Michael M. Armenian History and the Question of Genocide. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. Print. The.
...rime of Genocide." "A Problem from Hell": America and the Age of Genocide. New York: Perennial, 2003. 62-63. Print.
Cabeza de Vaca’s Adventures in the Unknown Interior of America shows that while Christians thought themselves superior to natives, both sides were diverse and could commit good, bad, or neutral behavior towards each other. Therefore, the Indians and the Christians were much more similar than different. This is apparent in de Vaca’s accounts of Indian to Indian behavior, Christian to Christian behavior, and Indian to Christian behavior (and vice-versa). Indian to Indian relations could be positive, negative, or neutral. On the positive side, de Vaca notes that in the case of intra-tribe quarrels, “[if] the quarrelers are single men, they repair to some neighboring people, who, even if enemies, welcome them warmly and give so much of what they have” (95).
To start off with, what is genocide? Genocide is the killing of a massive number of people of in a group. Genocide has not only been practices in the present day, but it has been practiced for m...
Returning to the article “From comparative to international genocide studies: The international production of genocide in 20th-century Europe” Shaw continues to beg the question, “What is ‘international’ about genocide?” Interestingly enough, Shaw uncovers how the ‘international’ is vital to genocide conceptualization given that it hinges on the acceptance of the modern Westphalian State System and its values/binaries (655). As a result, contemporary genocide is linked to the “nation” as opposed to “race” and ”empire” which are linked to the genocide in the colonial context. This builds upon the discourse by Moses, Teschke, and Levene who have assessed genocide through IR state system theory and evolution, that have left Shaw wondering, “how have IR in general changed over time, and what are the relationships between these trends” (655)? Although the answer to Shaw’s question is beyond this paper, the critical imperative to understand genocide as situated beyond state centric, artificial constructions, that can possibly inform whether or not these “constructions” promote or prevent genocide is
SAINATI, TATIANA E. "Toward A Comparative Approach To The Crime Of Genocide." Duke Law Journal 62.1 (2012): 161-202. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 Nov. 2013
The driving factor behind the disagreement of interpretations regarding the famines genocidal status lies within the ill-defined parameters of the term itself. Deborah Mayersen recognises the intense debate in regards to the accepted meanings in conjunction with the term genocide and the impact of such a discourse influencing historical interpretations and subsequent responses to present issues. The term became officially recognised in 1948 by the United Nations, spurred on by the atrocities that occurred during the Second World War. Holocaust scholars Frank Chalk and Kurk Johanson have become increasingly uncomfortable with the over usage of the word genocide, in particularly its application as in regard to the Ukrainian famine and the potential
Genocide is generally considered one of the worst crimes a government can commit against its citizens or those it controls. The major reason for this is what the world has learned from past experiences. Also, a subject of social science and scholarly study, genocide, in its legal definition, does not easily allow for empirical and historical research. For this reason, the definition of genocide for research is used cautiously in certain parts of the
The issue of cultural relativism has presented a change in understanding the identity of culture. What began as an intellectual critique of outdated Western thought has transformed into political justification for tribalism. By having these tribal cultures represent the only government embodiment in these areas, bloodshed has skyrocketed in a big way in the world today. This change led to cultural exclusiveness that had racial undertones. These cultures did not have equal knowledge and ability, so by turning towards tribalism the narrative that mattered would be deprived of allowing for a genuine knowledge of our past.
The development of cultural genocide, and its definition, within international law can be seen from its origin, Raphael Lemkin, to the subsequent debate by the United Nations’ Ad Hoc Committee on Genocide, to its omission from the Genocide Convention, and now to its reintroduction in the international arena by Indigenous peoples’ mobilization. Furthermore, the various components in the United Nations’s Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (UNGC), specifically article 2, have many particulars that work against addressing ‘cultural’ genocide, which results in the inability to appropriately and legally acknowledge the brutalities inflicted upon groups, which do not fit in the restrictive category of ‘physical' genocide
Kenneth Jost. 2005. “Understanding Islam.” Annual Editions: Anthropology 11/12, 34th Edition. Elvio Angeloni. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.