Violence and Religions Course

Lesson 1 • Conceptualizing Violence Across Disciplines

Maps direct, structural, and symbolic violence as analytical categories. Connects each type to religious phenomena examined later.

Lesson 2 • Methodological Approaches to the Field

Introduces historical, sociological, and textual methods for studying religion and violence. Students select appropriate methods for their own research questions.

Lesson 3 • Defining Religion in Academic Context

Surveys functional, substantive, and family-resemblance definitions of religion. Grounds subsequent analysis in a shared, precise vocabulary.

Lesson 1 • Violence in Abrahamic Scriptures

Surveys warfare, sacrifice, and divine wrath in Torah, New Testament, and Quran. Demonstrates shared and divergent rhetorical strategies across traditions.

Lesson 2 • Hermeneutics of Sacred Violence

Examines interpretive frameworks communities use to read violent passages. Establishes that meaning is produced through reading strategies, not texts alone.

Lesson 3 • Textual Legitimation and Delegitimation

Explores how the same texts are used to authorize and to condemn violence. Students practice identifying rhetorical moves in primary sources.

Lesson 4 • Violence in Asian Religious Texts

Analyzes martial ethics in Hindu epics, Buddhist just-war discourse, and Sikh scripture. Challenges Western-centric assumptions about peaceful Eastern religions.

Lesson 1 • Nonviolence as Theological Imperative

Examines ahimsa, pacifism, and conscientious objection as doctrinal positions. Provides contrast cases that sharpen analysis of pro-violence theologies.

Lesson 2 • Holy War and Divine Command

Analyzes theologies in which God directly commands violence, removing human moral deliberation. Distinguishes holy war from just war conceptually.

Lesson 3 • Theodicy and the Problem of Sacred Violence

Explores how traditions explain divinely permitted suffering and evil. Students assess how theodicy shapes communal responses to atrocity.

Lesson 4 • Just War Theory Across Traditions

Traces just war criteria from Augustine through Islamic and Hindu parallels. Students compare criteria for legitimate authority, just cause, and proportionality.

Lesson 1 • Gender, Sexuality, and Religious Violence

Analyzes how patriarchal religious norms authorize violence against women and LGBTQ+ persons. Connects doctrinal frameworks to lived harm.

Lesson 2 • Demonization of the Religious Other

Traces rhetorical and ritual processes that cast outsiders as demonic threats. Students identify these patterns in historical and contemporary propaganda.

Lesson 3 • Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Religious Identity

Disentangles religious, ethnic, and nationalist motivations in communal conflict. Students practice multi-causal analysis of complex cases.

Lesson 4 • Heresy, Apostasy, and Internal Violence

Examines violence directed at perceived deviants within a tradition. Demonstrates that religious violence is not only interreligious but also intragroup.

Lesson 1 • Defining and Typologizing Extremism

Distinguishes radicalism, extremism, and terrorism as analytical categories. Prevents conflation that distorts both research and policy.

Lesson 2 • Organizational Structures of Extremist Groups

Maps hierarchical, networked, and leaderless resistance organizational forms. Students assess how structure shapes operational capacity and resilience.

Lesson 3 • Radicalization Pathways and Models

Surveys pyramid, staircase, and three-N models of radicalization. Students evaluate empirical support and limitations of each model.

Lesson 4 • Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements

Analyzes how end-times beliefs accelerate willingness to commit violence. Examines historical and contemporary millenarian groups.

Lesson 1 • Colonialism, Missions, and Structural Violence

Traces how missionary activity and colonial governance produced structural harm. Connects historical patterns to contemporary indigenous rights debates.

Lesson 2 • Theocracy and Religious State Violence

Analyzes governance systems in which religious law authorizes state coercion. Distinguishes theocratic from secular authoritarian uses of religion.

Lesson 3 • International Norms and Religious Freedom

Examines how international human rights frameworks address religious persecution. Students evaluate tensions between religious freedom and other rights.

Lesson 4 • Religion and Genocide

Examines religious dimensions of genocidal ideology, perpetration, and bystander behavior. Students apply genocide studies frameworks to religious cases.

Lesson 1 • Interfaith Dialogue Models and Limits

Surveys encounter, common ground, and transformative dialogue models. Students assess conditions under which dialogue reduces rather than entrenches conflict.

Lesson 2 • Designing Peacebuilding Interventions

Guides students through needs assessment, stakeholder mapping, and program logic. Produces a draft intervention proposal as a capstone deliverable.

Lesson 3 • Religious Resources for Peacebuilding

Identifies doctrinal, ritual, and institutional assets traditions bring to peace work. Grounds subsequent applied sections in a resource inventory.

Lesson 4 • Truth, Justice, and Religious Communities

Examines religious community roles in truth commissions and transitional justice. Connects theological concepts of truth and accountability to institutional processes.

Lesson 1 • Selecting and Framing Contemporary Cases

Teaches criteria for case selection and multi-level framing of ongoing conflicts. Prevents single-cause explanations that distort policy recommendations.

Lesson 2 • Policy Implications and Practitioner Roles

Translates academic analysis into actionable policy and program recommendations. Students identify their own professional roles in addressing religious violence.

Lesson 3 • Applying Theoretical Frameworks to Cases

Demonstrates how identity, theology, and structural frameworks combine in analysis. Students practice integrating competing explanations into coherent accounts.

Lesson 4 • Media, Narrative, and Religious Violence

Examines how media framing shapes public understanding of religious violence. Students critically evaluate news, social media, and documentary sources.