In Thinking about Religion and Violence, award-winning Professor Jason C. Bivins takes you on a global, 24-lecture investigation of the roots of religious violence that offers more informed ways of thinking about it. You'll consider how faiths view concepts like human sacrifice and martyrdom; the ways religious violence can be directed toward specific races and genders; and concepts like heresy and demonology.
Thinking about Religion and Violence
Join an award-winning religion professor for a startling, open-minded examination of the connection between human spirituality and violence.
Rated 1 out of
5
by
Hopeless from
Unable to access course
No idea what this course is like, because since paying for the course I have been unable to access the course. It might be good if I was actually able to do the course ...
Date published: 2024-02-04
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Kisha from
Both Honest and Insightful . . .
I was pleasantly surprised by the content presented in this course. Often, Christians deny, defend and deflect when dealing with some of these difficult topics within Christianity. I appreciated the honest presentation and discourse. I highly recommend the video version of the course rather than ONLY audio. It made the content easier to digest and understand. Keep up the GREAT WORK!! It matters!
Date published: 2023-06-06
Rated 3 out of
5
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Evanpdx from
Intellectually dishonest
Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem criticizing Christianity. I was a product of Christianity and it caused me a lot of trauma for many of the reasons discussed in this series. And I don’t disagree with the lecturers points. But there are a lot of episodes where he spends a vast majority of the time talking about Christianity, especially the gender and sexuality lectures which I just watched, and bash on it nonstop. Drawing upon both modern and remote anecdotes. Then he spends a tiny fraction of the time just mentioning Islam. Are you really gonna tell me the Christians have gotten it more wrong on issues of gender and sexuality than the Muslims, even in modern times? It just fees very intellectually dishonest. Especially when he tried to justify the Hijab as actually being “liberating” for women. I’m sorry, shall we talk about the Niqab then? You wanna tell me how that’s liberating? Just really puts me off and makes it hard to trust anything else he says.
Date published: 2023-03-22
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Snowflakefreaky from
Great Topics & A Lot to Think About
I picked this course due to some of the theme's I picked up on, including: different religions, spiritual beliefs and the ill fated violence that they all have established within our history and thus probably our future. I do have to admit that I am glad I do not read reviews. My point, listen to all the information, then do your research you will find that to start to change our world, means to not repeat our past. Our future is only bright if you give another's idea, thoughts, research and beliefs a chance. You never have to agree, but in listening to this entire series I am reminded that we all do have to start to listen.
Thank you for these lectures, they were informative and kind.
We could all use a little more kindness.
Date published: 2022-06-23
Rated 5 out of
5
by
FloridaPat from
Intellectually Stimulating Topic
The professor brings forth many ideas. I especially appreciated the material about extremist, violent groups in the history of the USA and he has prompted me to do research on them. The course is very valuable and thought provoking.
Date published: 2022-04-08
Rated 5 out of
5
by
RajivC from
Brilliant. Deep.
I bought this course several years back and had forgotten about my purchase. I have watched the lectures over the last twenty days. On average, I watched one lecture a day. Halfway through I bought the transcript.
This is a deep course, and the material is heavy, which is why I recommend one lecture a day. Prof Bivins has covered extensive ground in these lectures, and I congratulate him for taking a neutral stand throughout the entire process. It is easy to take sides, and he resisted the temptation.
There is much material, and for me what was valuable, was:
1. He laid out some basic principles and themes at the outset
2 He covered instances of religious violence throughout the world. Each got its own chapter, and he put them into a social and historical context. This is invaluable.
The concluding chapter at the end is excellent, in which he laid out some specific recommendations. You may agree or disagree with these or with some of the material.
However, he has given us all many things to consider.
For my part, I will watch this again after a year
Date published: 2022-04-04
Rated 5 out of
5
by
AAZ Dry Humor from
Watch All 24 Lectures
This course more than any other course I have watched I think will have people abandoning it after the first few lectures. I almost did, but I am glad I stuck with it. It is both thought provoking and loaded with great historical background that I have not heard nowhere else.
Date published: 2021-12-08
Rated 4 out of
5
by
Anna47 from
Thought-provoking
I found this course to be thought-provoking and generally very good. I did find the occasional out-of-context quotation of Bible verses to be troubling. The Bible is a complex collection of writings of a variety of types. Taking one verse out of context may lead to misunderstandings or meaning ... just as taking one line out of a Shakespeare play might give a misleading idea of the play's plot and action. The Biblical book "Revelation" is discussed at several points in the course. I'd like to recommend another Great Course to anyone wanting more information: "The Apocalypse: Controversies and Meaning in Western History" by Dr. Craig R. Koester. Also, during the lesson about the Crusades (and I am not supporting the Crusades), I wanted to ask about the earlier conquest of North Africa and Spain. How do the conquests of these Christian communities, conquests that pre-dated the Crusades, relate to the Crusades? And to later Islamic military campaigns in southern Italy, the Balkans, Hungary, and Austria?
Date published: 2021-06-12
Overview
About
Jason C. Bivins is a Professor of Religious Studies in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at North Carolina State University. He received his B.A. in Religion from Oberlin College and his Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Indiana University. Professor Bivins has taught at North Carolina State University since 2000 and has received several teaching awards there.
Professor Bivins specializes in religion and American culture, focusing particularly on the intersection between religions and politics since 1900. His books include Spirits Rejoice! Jazz and American Religion (named an Outstanding Academic Title of 2015 by Choice); Religion of Fear: The Politics of Horror in Conservative Evangelicalism (named a 2008 Outstanding Academic Title selected by Choice); and The Fracture of Good Order: Christian Antiliberalism and the Challenge to American Politics. His books have received coverage from both mainstream and academic media, including National Public Radio, The Washington Times, and Religion Dispatches.
Professor Bivins has also published articles, book chapters, review essays, and pieces on religion, politics, and culture in the United States, as well as on theory and method in the study of religion. Regularly interviewed by newspapers, podcasts, radio shows, and other public media, Professor Bivins serves on multiple committees in the American Academy of Religion and was a section coeditor for Religion Compass.
Trailer
01: Religion and Violence: A Strange Nexus
What is the essence of religious violence? What are the historical trends that explain the relationship between religious beliefs and violence? What are some problematic ways we often frame the issue of religious violence? Begin your exploration of these and other perplexing questions about this complex subject.
31 min
02: Defining Religion and Violence
Get a solid introduction to different ways of recognizing and studying religion as a way to start making sense of religious violence. Central to this lecture is the idea that religion and violence exist in a fluid relationship, which can make the boundary between religious and non-religious identities fuzzy as well.
29 min
03: Violence in Sacred Texts
Explore the special power and authority that sacred texts have for religious practitioners, and how some people invoke these stories and images to legitimize violence. Consider several prevalent themes found in sacred texts like the Bible, the Bhagavad-Gita, and the Qur’an: vengeful deities, holy wars, and holy suffering.
31 min
04: Martyrdom, Sacrifice, and Self-Harm
Sacrifice is one of the most fundamental building blocks of religion. Here, examine how and why people commit self-harm and sacrifice for religious purposes. Topics include animal sacrifice during India’s Vedic period, self-denial and asceticism (such as vows of celibacy), and religious suicides from ancient Rome to the modern era.
31 min
05: Scapegoating and Demonology
Discover how religious violence is almost always justified by portraying its targets as something other than human, or as malevolent. Professor Bivins explains how the social process of Other-ing has led religions to process and create fear through scapegoats, demons and monsters, false gods, and Antichrist figures.
31 min
06: Understanding Witch Trials
One of the most effective ways of demonstrating religious power is through trial and punishment. Examine the use of law and the meanings of public displays of violence as seen in historical cases of witch hunting and witch trials. Witches, it turns out, are in many ways more reviled than demons.
31 min
07: The Apocalyptic Outlook
For humans, the world is always about to end. Using examples like the People’s Temple, the Branch Davidians, and Aum Shinrikyo, as well as 19th-century America, explore the meanings of apocalypticism as a form of human meaning-making, as well as its role in the phenomenon of religious violence.
30 min
08: Racial Violence and Religion
Focus here on a very specific aspect of Other-ing: the idea of different races as the objects of religious violence. First, examine how religions generate racial ideas. Then, take a closer look at two very different expressions of racial religion: white supremacist Christianity and the Nation of Islam.
31 min
09: Religion and Violence against Women
In this lecture, investigate the gendering of religious language and the treatment of women’s bodies in religious practices like menstrual seclusion and self-sacrifice. Also, study the anxiety around women that occurred during the Salem witch trials, as well as competing interpretations of women’s freedom and constraint in Islam.
31 min
10: Sexuality, Morality, and Punishment
How have religious traditions responded to sexuality with demonization, social constraint, and physical assault? What are some of the oldest, most outlandish forms of religious self-discipline? How has religious and political persecution worked to target specific issues related to sexuality and morality (specifically abortion and homosexuality)?
33 min
11: Heresies and Their Suppression
Generally speaking, heresies exist in every religious tradition. Professor Bivins explains how religious violence can consist not only of physical harm against people or groups but of legal constraints, denials of basic liberties, and misrepresentation. Examples you’ll consider include Pope Gregory IX’s heresy courts and the trial of Galileo.
32 min
12: Religion and Just War Theory
When is it permissible to go to war? Learn how Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Christians, and Muslims have all wrestled—morally, conceptually, strategically—with questions about how to balance religious ideals with real-world conflicts, and how religions define violence in the context of war as a necessary, limited evil.
30 min
13: Peace as a Religious Ideal
While sacred texts contain passages on warfare and violence, they also contain maxims, stories, and images exhorting believers to peace. What are the challenges of pacifism? Examine the issue through three historical cases: Mahatma Gandhi, 20th-century American Catholic pacifism, and the Muslim scholar Sheikh al-Hajj Salim Suwari.
32 min
14: War Gods and Holy War
Focus on the role of war gods in human cultures and sacred texts. Then, take an extended look at the medieval Crusades, as well as Cold War religious imagery. It turns out the roots of war gods aren’t as removed from our present day as we’d like to think.
31 min
15: Religious Violence in Israel
A big challenge in understanding interreligious conflict is figuring out the role national identity plays. See why this is the case in modern-day Israel, where conflicts between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam demonstrate the fractious experience of overlapping histories and the limits of secular power in a complex religious world.
31 min
16: Religious Violence in India
First, look at the historical relationship of religious ethics to public life in India. Then, consider the legacy of colonialism in contributing to the rise of interreligious violence (especially surrounding Sikhism). Last, examine the Hindu hyper-nationalism known as Hindutva and the widely-discussed phenomenon called Saffron Terror.
32 min
17: Religion’s Relationship with Slavery
How have religions wrestled with—but also condoned—the brutal institution of slavery (especially in the United States of America)? What you’ll learn in this eye-opening lecture is that, while some of slavery’s most powerful critics have been full-throated religious practitioners, the same can be said of slavery’s defenders.
30 min
18: Native Americans and Religious Violence
Trace the role of violence in and around Native American traditions. How common is land displacement or outright theft? What’s the relationship between competing gods and vengeful ghosts? Is the story of indigenous peoples inseparable from colonialism and imperialism, which are often motivated to eradicate indigenous faiths?
30 min
19: Violence and “Cults”
Study the key characteristics that make a group a “cult,” including a desire for authenticity and a new pattern of life that breaks with mainstream culture. Then, use Mormonism, China’s Falun Gong, and the Solar Temple as ways to explore why some new religions provoke violence and others practice it.
29 min
20: Anti-Catholicism in Europe and America
In the first of two lectures on the power of stereotypes and misrepresentation to justify religious violence, look at how church reformers in Europe and the United States of America produced a series of enduring, negative images and stereotypes of Catholics: as degenerate, orgiastic, drunken, and power-mad.
31 min
21: The Persistence of Anti-Semitism
Turn now to one of the more glaring and persistent traditions of anti-religious violence: anti-Semitism. Why has this form of historical suffering become an intimate component of Jewish identity? How is it portrayed in scriptural stories like Exodus, as well as modern-day moments of persecution and social marginalization?
31 min
22: Islam, Violence, and Islamophobia
Here, look at Islam and violence from different perspectives. Shed light on the negative stereotypes and representations common to discrimination against Muslims. Explore how Islamophobia depends on generalization and exaggeration, then consider Muslim theological sources of violence in the modern world, as well as significant examples of Islamic revolution.
32 min
23: Religion and Terrorism
In this lecture, do more than just focus on how to define terrorism. Instead, try and understand how and why terrorists see the world as they do—a task worth undertaking if we’re serious about understanding contemporary problems with religious violence. Your case studies here: Gush Emunim, Hezbollah, and al-Qaeda.
31 min
24: What We Can Do About Religious Violence
How can we change a world that produces so much religious violence? Professor Bivins starts with tools for individuals and proceeding from there through communities, nations, and international institutions. The important thing: to think concretely about religious violence rather than be numbed into fear or inaction.
33 min
