Concepts of Terrorism in Terror in the Mind of God by...

Concepts of Terrorism in Terror in the Mind of God by Juergensmeyer The reason I picked this book is because I have always been curious about terrorism. Truthfully, I really didn’t expect the book to take the stance it did, which focused mainly on the religious implications of what influences people to commits acts of terror. I liked the fact that the book takes new angles in approaching the search for truth, by focusing on case studies and performing interviews with the people who have committed terrorist acts. This is like getting the insiders view of the inner workings and frame of mind people have before, during, and after they have unswervingly performed the acts of violence. In the first chapter, Juergensmeyer states,†¦show more content†¦in the field of political science from U.C. Berkeley with an emphasis on South Asia and comparative politics. He has also taken the liberty to study the following languages, Hindi, Panjabi, Urdu, German, and Latin. Because of this mastery of multiple languages I feel it has provided him an advantage on getting insight on the different cultures he has studied since knows the language. The reason I say this is due to the fact that all languages have different meanings and innuendoes built that none speakers might not pick up. One example of this in the English language is sarcasm. Also, it has always been said that little things get missed through translation, because not all languages translate verbatim with each other. For this book, he elected the help from several sources. He spent a page and a half listing out people such as Ehud Sprinzak (Israel), Zaid Abu-Amr (Hamas movement), Warden David Rardin (prison interviews), and many more to that could be listed. The basic argument that Juergensmeyer makes is that religious terrorism differs from other kinds of terrorism, and does religion plays the justification role in introducing terrorism to the ‘evils’ of the world. At fir st glance, the wealth of information, and sources that are presented, such as the one-on-one interview with Mike Bray and Rev. Paul Hill. Throughout the book he makes different points differentiating between political terrorism and religious terrorism. For instance,Show MoreRelatedReligious Violence On The Mind Of God1240 Words   |  5 Pagespuzzles society. In Juergensmeyer s Terror in the Mind of God, Juergensmeyer states that religion, not the only cause for violence, offers the â€Å"mores and symbols† that make committing violence in the name of religion occur. Examples from his research into violence belonging to each religion allow him to further comprehend motives that spark terrorist into action. 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