A Neo-Weberian Approach to Studying Religion and Violence

Bibliographic Data

ID11921240
AuthorsCecelia Lynch (University of California, Irvine, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume43
Issue1
Pages273-290
Publication date2014-09-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMillennium Journal of International Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0305-8298 • E-ISSN: 1477-9021
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0305829814541506
OpenAlexW2056426886
LanguageEN
Citations received10

research-article2014 MIL0010.1177/0305829814541506Millennium: Journal of International StudiesLynch MILLENNIUM Journal of International Studies Forum: Religion and violence A Neo-Weberian Approach to Studying Religion and Violence Millennium: Journal of International Studies 2014, Vol. 43(1) 273­–290 © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0305829814541506 mil.sagepub.com Cecelia Lynch University of California Irvine, USA Keywords religion, violence, secularism, Enlightenment, neo-Weberianism, common good, (popular) casuistry, mission, religious freedom The preoccupation with religion and violence in both scholarship and public debate is a vestige of Enlightenment thinking that took on new force after the end of the Cold War and again after 9/11/2001, as several of the contributors to the Millenium special issue on religion published in 2000 (prior to the events of 9/11/2001) demonstrated. 1 Contributors to that issue argued that, while there are certainly religious interpretations and practices that condone or even promote violence, the fixation with the idea that religion causes violence needs to be examined because it shapes the kinds of questions we ask about reli- gion as well as the answers we expect to receive. In this contribution, I argue that the neo-Weberian approach to religion provides a way to avoid problematic assumptions that a priori connect religion to violence, but still allows us to understand the bases of religion/ violence connections where they exist. 2 This is because neo-Weberianism first situates religious actors and practices in relevant social, economic, political, and historical con- texts, drawing from constructivist insights and the methodology of Max Weber’s Sociology of Religion. 3 But, while Weber emphasized the ethical problems confronted by religious groups in the process of rationalization, he focused primarily on interpretation through constructing ideal-types instead of looking at the process of negotiating ethical struggles 1. Millienium: Journal of International Studies 29, 3 (2000). 2. Cecelia Lynch, “A Neo-Weberian Approach to Religion in International Politics,” International Theory (IT) 1, 3, (2009): 381-408. 3. Max Weber, The Sociology of Religion (Boston: Beacon Press, 1963/91). Corresponding author: Cecelia Lynch, University of California Irvine, 3151 Social Science Plaza, Irvine, CA 92697, USA. Email: [email protected] Downloaded from mil.sagepub.com at UNIV CALIFORNIA IRVINE on August 13, 2015

Criminology · Sociology · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Society, and Development · Weber, Simmel, Sociological Theory

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