FYS 16 Religion and Violence
This course interrogates the relationship between religion and violence. Through a survey of the scholarship on religion and violence and a series of focused studies on 9/11 and the "revolutionary suicide" at Jonestown, this course will offer an overview of religion and violence in the Americas. Using these case studies, we will ask a series of analytical questions: What is violence? Can religions motivate violence, or do they merely sanctify it? And what are the sources of religious authority (such as leaders, scripture, tradition, and ritual practice) that can militate for or against violence? And what kinds of speech and action are properly understood as "violent"? Open only to first-year frosh.