The Bible and Violence RGB 3805/6805 Spring 2008 Thursdays 11-1 Scott M. Lewis S.J.

I

t is often said that that religious texts provoke and sanction violence, and even that religion itself is inherently violent. Utilizing the mimetic violence model, we will analyze representative texts from both the Old and New Testaments in dialogue with the works of René Girard, James Alison, and James V. Williams. Central to our study of the pertinent NT texts is an exploration of the symbolic world of apocalypticism (both Jewish and Christian), as well as the destructive potential of the Passion narratives. Special tension will also be given to the myth of redemptive violence and the misuse of religious language and symbols. This will include an examination of Jungian and psychoanalytic approaches to the texts. Attention will also be given to pastoral and theological approaches to sensitive biblical passages today.

Required Texts:

René Girard, I See Satan Fall Like Lightning. Novalis.

Mark Juergensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of God. 3^rd edition! (University of California Press)

Leo D. Lefebure, Revelation, the Religions, and Violence. Orbis.

Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer. Is Religion Killing Us? Continuum.

Walter Wink, The Powers That Be.

NRSV or RSV edition of the Bible.

Various articles will be photocopied and made available.

There will be two short reflection papers based on the readings and lectures (40% of grade). An extended final essay will take the place of an exam (60% of grade). No exams. Those registered for AD (RGB6805) will be doing additional work – please see the professor after class.

My telephone number is 922-5474 ext. 256 (office).

E-mail: scott.lewis@utoronto.ca

Web page: www.newtestamentworld.org

All assignments and handouts will be posted on Blackboard. You will access it through your own portal.utoronto.ca page with your UTORid. Please see the attached page with instructions for logging in. The text-only version of the weekly PowerPoint presentation will also be posted on this website. Please note that I cannot provide internet assistance of any sort.

Bibliography

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________. Raising Abel: The Recovery of Eschatological Imagination. New York: Crossroads, 1996.

Almond, Gabriel; Appleby, R. Scott; Sivan, Emmanuel, eds. Strong Religion. The Rise of Fundamentalisms Around the World. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.

Anderson, Irvine H. Biblical Interpretation and Middle East Policy. The Promised Land, America, and Israel, 1917-2002. Gainnesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2005.

Anderson, Paul N. “Genocide or Jesus: A God of Conquest or Pacifism?” In The Destructive Power of Religion: Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, vol. IV. Contemporary views on Spirituality and Violence, 31-52. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004.

Armstrong, Karen. The Battle for God. The History of Fundamentalism. New York: Ballantine/Random House, 2000.

Barr, David L. Reading the Book of Revelation. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003.

Beier, Matthias. A Violent God-Image. An Introduction to the Work of Eugen Drewermann. New York: Continuum, 2004.

Boys, Mary C. Has God Only One Blessing? Judaism as a Source of Christian Self-Understanding. New York: Paulist Press, 2000.

Burkert, Walter. Homo Necans. The Anthropology of Ancient Greek Sacrificial Ritual and Myth. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983.

Collins, John J. The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998.

Collins, John J.; Evans, Craig A. (eds). Christian Beginnings and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006.

Collins, John J. Does the Bible Justify Violence? Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004.

________. “Genre, Ideology, and Social Movements in Jewish Apocalypticsm.” In Mysteries and Revelations, 11-32. Sheffield: Sheffield Univesity Press, 1991.

________. “The Zeal of Phinehas, the Bible, and the Legitimation of Violence.” In The Destructive Power of Religion: Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, vol. I. Sacred Scriptures, Ideology, and Violence, 11-33. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004.

Collins, Raymond F. “Inspiration.” In New Jerome Biblical Commentary, 1023-33. Prentice Hall, 1990.

Cook, Stephen L. The Apocalyptic Literature. Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 2003.

Crossan, John Dominic. God & Empire: Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2007.

Davis, Charles T. “The Evolution of a Pauline Toxic Text.” In The Destructive Power of Religion: Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, vol. I. Sacred Scriptures, Ideology, and Violence, 191-206. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004.

________. “Seeds of Violence in Biblical Interpretation.” In The Destructive Power of Religion: Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, vol. I. Sacred Sciptures, Ideology, and Violence, 35-53. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004.

Dozier, Rush W. Why We Hate. Understanding, Curbing, and Eliminating Hate in Ourselves and Our World. Chicago: Contemporary Books, 2002.

Edinger, Edward F. Archetype of the Apocalypse. A Jungian Study of the Book of Revelation. Chicago: Open Court, 1999.

Ehrenreich, Barbara. Blood Rites. Origins and History of the Passions of War. New York: Metropolitan Books, 1997.

Ellens, J. Harold. The Destructive Power of Religion : Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Edited by J. Harold Ellens. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004.

________. “Fundamentalism, Orthodoxy, and Violence.” In The Destructive Power of Religion: Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, vol. IV. Contemporary Views on Spirituality and Violence, 119-42. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004.

________. The Psychology of Terrorism. Vol. III. Theoretical Understandings and Perspectives, Psychological Legitimization of Violence by Religious Archetype, 149-62. Westport, CN: Praeger, 2002.

________. The Destructive Power of Religion. Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Vol. 2, Religion, Psychology, and Violence. Edited by Christ E. Stout. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004.

Elliot, Mark Adam. “Retribution and Agency in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Teaching of Jesus.” In The Destructive Power of Religion: Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, vol. I. Sacred Scriptures, Ideology, and Violence, 207-31. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004.

Emmerson, Richard K.; McGinn, Bernard (eds). The Apocalypse in the Middle Ages. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1992.

Eppens, Alfred J. “The Crusade Pogroms: Christian Holy War on the Home Front.” In The Destructive Power of Religion: Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, vol. IV. Contemporary Views on Spirituality and Violence, 19-30. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004.

Falk, Avner. Fratricide in the Holy Land. A Psychoanalytic View of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2004.

Fredriksen, Paula. “Tyconius and Augustine on the Apocalypse.” In The Apocaypse in the Middle Ages, 20-37. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1992.

Gaddis, Michael. There Is No Crime for Those Who Have Christ. Religious Violence in the Christian Roman Empire. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2005.

Girard, René. I See Satan Fall Like Lightning. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2001.

________. Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World. Translated by Stephen Bann and Michael Metteer. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1987.

Gopin, Marc. Healing the Heart of Conflict. 8 Crucial Stemps to Making Peace with Yourself and Others. Rodale, 2004.

________. “Why Modern Culture Fails to Understand Religiously Motivated Violence.” In Between Eden and Armageddon, 35-64. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Gorenberg, Gershom. The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount. New York: Free Press, 2000.

Griffth, Lee. The War On Terrorism And The Terror Of God. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2002.

Hamerton-Kelly, Robert G. Sacred Violence. Paul’s Hermeneutic of the Cross. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992.

Hammerton-Kelly, Robert G. (ed). Violent Origins. Walter Burkert, René Girard, and Jonathan Z. Smith on Ritual Killing and Cultural Formation. Stanford: Stanford Univesity Press, 1987.

Hanford, Jack T. “Destructive and Constructive Religion in Relation to Shame and Terror.” In The Destructive Power of Religion: Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, vol. II. Religion, Psychology, and Violence, 235-49. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004.

Harris, Sam. The End of Faith. Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason. New York: W.W. Norton, 2004.

Heim, Mark S. Saved From Sacrifice. A Theology of the Cross. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2006.

Hillman, James. A Terrible Love of War. New York: Penguin Press, 2004.

Horsley, Richard. Jesus and the Spiral of Violence. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992.

________. Religion and Empire. People, Power, and the Life of the Spirit. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003.

Jewett, Robert and Lawrence, John Shelton. Captain America and the Crusade Against Evil. The Dilemma of Zealous Nationalism. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2003.

Juergensmeyer, Mark. “Gandhi Vs. Terrorism.” Daedalus 136, no. 1 (Winter 2007): 30-39.

________. Terror in the Mind of God. The Global Rise of Religious Violence. 3rd ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2003.

Kille, D. Andrew. “The Bible Made Me Do It. Text, Interpretation, and Violence.” In The Destructive Power of Religion. Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, vol. I. Sacred Scriptures, Ideology, and Violence, 55-74. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004.

Kimball, Charles. When Religion Becomes Evil. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2002.

Kirsch, Jonathan. A History of the End of the World. How the Most Controversial Book in the Bible Changed the Course of Western Civilization. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2006.

Lefebure, Leo D. Revelation, the Religions, and Violence. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2000.

Lewis, Scott M. What Are They Saying About New Testament Apocalyptic? New York: Paulist Press, 2004.

Lincoln, Bruce. Holy Terrors. Thinking About Religion After September 11. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.

Mabee, Charles. “Reflections on Monotheism and Violence.” In The Destructive Power of Religion: Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, vol. IV. Contemporary Views on Spirituality and Violence, 111-18. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004.

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McGuire, Cheryl. “Judaism, Chistianity, and Girard: The Violent Messiahs.” In The Destructive Power of Religion: Violence in Judaism, Christiantiy, and Islam, vol. II. Religion, Psychology, and Violence, 51-84. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004.

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Reid, Barbara E. “The Cross and Cycles of Violence.” Interpretation 58, no. 4 (2004 October 2004): 376-85.

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________. Soul and Psyche. The Bible in Psychological Perspective. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999.

Schwager, Raymund. Must There Be Scapegoats? Violence and Redemption in the Bible. New York: Crossroad, 2000.

Shafer, Grant R. “Hell, Martyrdom, and War: Violence in Early Christianity.” In The Destructive Power of Religion: Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, vol. III. Models and Cases of Violence in Religion, 193-246. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004.

Sloat, Donald E. “Terrorizing the Self to Save the Soul: The Destructive Power of Legalistic Christianity.” In The Destructive Power of Religion: Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, vol. III. Models and Cases of Violence in Religion, 151-74. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004.

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Stirling, Mack C. “Violent Religion: René Girard’s Theory of Culture.” In The Destructive Power of Religion: Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, vol. II. Religion, Psychology, and Violence, 11-50. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004.

Sullivan, Andrew. “This Is a Religious War.” New York Times, 7 October 2001.

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________. Killing in the Name of Identity. A Study of Bloody Conflicts. Charlottesville, VA: Pitchstone, 2006.

Vos, Johan S. “Splitting and Violence in the New Testament: Psychoanalytic Approaches to the Revelation of John and the Letters of Paul.” In The Destructive Power of Religion: Violence in Judaism,Christianity, and Islam, vol. II. Religion, Psychology, and Violence, 177-97. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004.

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Wink, Walter. “Beyond Just War and Pacifism: Jesus’ Nonviolent Way.” In The Destructive Power of Religion: Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, vol. IV. Contemporary Views on Spirituality and Violence, 53-76. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004.

________. The Human Being. Jesus and the Enigma of the Son of the Man. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002.

________. The Destructive Power of Religion. Violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Vol. III. Models and Cases of Violence in Religion, The Myth of Redemptive Violence, 265-86. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004.

________. The Powers That Be. Theology for a New Millennium. New York: Doubleday, 1998.