Religion 393: Violence and Religion
Instructor:
Victor Taylor, Professor
Office:
HUM 153, MWF, 11-12, MW, 2-2:30, and TR by apt.
Email:
Vetaylor@ycp.edu
Phone:
X-1755
*The syllabus is subject to change by the instructor.
Fall 2012
ST: Let’s start with the question of violence. What, today, is the relation between violence and
politics?
SZ: This question is particularly confused on the Left. Let’s take the use made of two authors,
Carl Schmitt and Walter Benjamin, for example. I don’t have any problem with Schmitt. But
Schmitt’s concepts of "decision" and "exception" function precisely to erase the crucial
distinction governing Benjamin’s "Critique of Violence," namely the distinction between
"mythical" and "divine" violence. For Schmitt, to put it quite simply, there is no divine violence.
For him there is an illegal violence that is a foundation, a violence of the exception that gives
rise to the law. Many Leftists who flirt with Benjamin want to speak of some "spectral" violence
that never really happens, or they adopt an attitude like Agamben’s and simply wait for some
magical intervention. I’m sorry, but Benjamin is pretty precise. An example he gives of divine
violence is a mob lynching a corrupt ruler! That’s pretty concrete. In a new book I’m writing on
violence, I’m going to address this issue. Franz Fanon has suffered a similar fate. He was very
clear about the role of violence, and he certainly wasn’t speaking of some "transcendental"
violence. He meant killing, he meant terror. But this dimension of their work is not present in
contemporary commentators. We have a softened, "decaffeinated" Fanon and Benjamin.
--Interview with Soft Targets, 2007.
Course Introduction:
This course examines the historical, philosophical, and theoretical interaction of violence and religion.
Moreover, the course examines uses of various forms of religious violence to create, maintain, and delegitimate powerful social and cultural formations, e.g. the Biblical “justification” and the Biblical
condemnation of slavery during the American Civil War.
The beginning readings and discussions will explore the ways in which violence has been understood in
the context of religion. On the one hand, religion, according to the historian of religion Karen
Armstrong, develops as a response to violence. In her book The Great Transformation: The Beginning of
Our Religious Traditions, she argues that the “Axial Age” was pivotal in displacing violence with a sense
of the “sacred.” On the other hand, as Armstrong points out, religion also has been at the root of
violence, The Inquisition, The Crusades, et al. Is religion inherently violent? Is religion inherently
peaceful? These are questions that direct the thinking of the figures we will be reading early in the
semester.
Later in the semester will be reading a literary text, The Violent Bear it Away, by the American writer
Flannery O’Connor and a memoir of a Civil War soldier, Robert L. Drummond. We also will examine the
Book of Job and the Book of Exodus, as well as excerpts from the Bhagavad Gita and the Qur’an. In
order to properly analyze these works, we will carefully examine Slavoj Žižek’s book Violence. Žižek is
one of today’s most influential philosophers and his scholarship on violence will help us to understand
the nature of violence and the effects of violence in the contexts of religion and culture. In addition to
Žižek’s book, we will view several scenes from Žižek! and The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema (it is not what
you think) to examine the issue of religious violence and film.
At the end of the semester, students will complete a substantial research project on the topic of
violence and religion.
Goals:




Attain an understanding of the historical, philosophical, and theoretical interaction of violence
and religion.
Attain an understanding the key texts on the topic of violence and religion.
Attain critical thinking, reading, speaking, and writing skills.
Attain research skills.
Grading:
Exam I
25 pts.
Exam II
25 pts.
Response Papers
25 pts.
Research Project
25 pts.
100 pts. total
Students with special considerations should see me during office hours.
All course work must be in compliance with YCP communication standard.
Texts:
Princeton Readings in Religion and Violence, Jeurgensmayer
Violence, Žižek
The Violent Bear it Away, O’Connor
The Religious Pray, the Profane Swear, Taylor
Schedule:
8.28
Introduction
8.30
What is religion? Excerpt from K. Armstrong (in class text)
9.6
What is violence? Excerpt from K. Armstrong (in class text)
9.11
“Why is Religion Violent . . . ?”, Princeton Readings (PR), 1.
9.13
Discussion and excerpt from René Girard.
9.18
“Elementary Forms of the Religious Life,” Durkheim, 100.
9.20
“Totem and Taboo,” Freud, 115.
9.25
“Theory of Religion,” Bataille, 167.
9.27
“The Spirit of Terrorism,” Baudrillard, 201.
10.2
Violence, Žižek
10.4
Discussion: 1-39 and The Book of Job.
10.9
Discussion: 40-73 and excerpt from the Qur’an (PR).
10.11 Review and The Book of Exodus (PR)
10.18 Discussion: 74-105.
10.23 Discussion: 178-219 and The Bhavagad Gita (PR)
10.25 Žižek , Hitchcock, Lynch, and Cuaròn.
10.30 The Violent Bear It Away, O’Connor.
11.1
Discussion and Deuteronomy (PR)
11.6
Discussion: “Divine Violence,” excerpt from Walter Benjamin.
11.8
The Religious Pray, Taylor.
11.13 Discussion and Summa Theologica (PR).
11.15 Discussion and “Just War” Theory.
11.20 Žižek, excerpts from The Year of Dreaming Dangerously.
11.27 Discussion and excerpt from Jacques Derrida.
11.29 Discussion
12.4-12.11
Projects