Violent Death in Religious Imagination
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23568656 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Margo Kitts (Humanities, Hawaii Pacific University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Pages | 351-360 |
| Publication date | 2013-03-12 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | The Oxford handbook of religion and violence (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199759996.013.0024 |
| OpenAlex | W2604116109 |
| ISBN | 9780199759996 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 4 |
This chapter reviews the selected religious myths of violent death under three rubrics: when death is primordially wrong; when violent death is cosmically right; and when violent death, particularly in the form of suicide, is enshrined as martyrdom. A brief speculation on religious imagination and its peculiar obsessions is given. There are few themes in religious studies that justify a sweeping overview, but violent death is recurrent enough to be one of them. The biblical Chaoskampf theme needs death, rescue, and restoration. Two motifs that illustrate the violent deaths are the dema and the Chaoskampf. The first focuses on the victim, the other on the victor. The spectacle of violent death has concentrated individuals and mobs across traditions. Although the examples presented consider the mythology of violent death, the ritualistic display of violent death could have been treated in equal breadth.
Afterlife · Art · Criminology · Death drive · Literature · Medical emergency · Mythology · Poison control · Political science · Psychoanalysis · Spectacle · Suicide prevention · Theme (computing) · Violent death · History · Law · Medicine · Psychology · Violence, Religion, and Philosophy
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |