Introduction

To question the links between violence and religion is not equivalent to denying that they exist. Surely one of the most pressing issues of our time is the outbreak of extremist violence and terrorism, much of it done in the name of religion. This volume critically analyzes the link made between religion and violence in contemporary social and cultural theory, particularly with reference to the mimetic theory of René Girard, and proposes that “religion” does not have an exclusive relationship to violence, especially when “religion” is a term used to demarcate a realm that stands apart from culture, ideology, or nationalism. To the contrary, religion and violence—and their links and fissures—must be understood with relation to fundamental anthropological and philosophical categories such as culture, desire, disaster, and rivalry