The syllabus consists of:
a) Two books:
- Juergensmeyer: Terror in the mind of God
- Johnston (ed.): Faith-based diplomacy
b) A compendium with book chapters and articles (can be bought in the Akademika bookstore).
c) Online articles and reports.
(1) RELIGION, CONFLICT AND VIOLENCE (310 pp)
Juergensmeyer, M: Terror in the Mind of God. The Global Rise of Religious Violence , 2003. University of California Press, Berkley, Los Angeles, London. (245 pp) ( Book).
Scott Atran, Robert Axelrod, Richard Davis : Sacred Barriers to Conflict Resolution, Science 24 August 2007 . pp. 1039-1040 . Online article.
Huntington, S: "The Clash of Civilizations?" in Foreign affairs 72/3: 1993. pp. 22-49. Online article.
Fox, J.: Ethnic Minorities and the Clash of Civilizations: A Quantitative Analysis of Huntington's Thesis, July 2002 . British Journal of Political Science, Volume 32, Issue 03. pp 415-434 (in compendium).
Said, E. W. in: The Nation : The Clash of Ignorance, October 21, 2001 . (4 pp) . Online article.
Amartya Sen: "What clash of civilizations? Why religious identity isn’t destiny" in Slate Magazine, March 2006. (5pp). Online article.
Rasmussen, L.: Us vs Them syndrome in Christian-Muslim conflicts. Denmark, Indonesia and Nigeria , 2007. Paper for the conference Religion in the 21st century, Copenhagen, September 2007. Fronter text archive.
(2) RELIGION, DIALOGUE AND PEACEBUILDING (360 pp)
Johnston, D. (ed): Faith-Based Diplomacy: Trumping Realpolitik. , 2003. Oxford University Press, Oxford. (250 pp) (Book).
Harpviken, K. B. and R?islien, H. E. : Mapping the Terrain. The Role of Religion in Peacemaking., July 2005. State of the Art Paper for the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (32 pp). Online article.
Botman, H. R.: "Truth and Reconciliation. The South Africa Case" in Coward, H and G. S. Smith (eds.): Religion and Peacebuilding, State University of New York Press, Albany. pp. 243-260 (18 pp, in compendium).
Baum, G. and H. Wells (eds.): The Reconciliation of Peoples. Challenge to the Churches, 1997. Orbis Books & WCC Publications, Maryknoll, N. Y. and Geneva. pp. 1-15, 184-192 (23 pp, in compendium).
Eidsv?g, I., Lindholm, T. and Steen, B.: in Facilitating Freedom of Religion or Belief: A Deskbook (eds. Lindholm, T., Durham, W. C. and Tahzib-Lie, B. G.) : The Emergence of Interfaith Dialogue: The Norwegian Experience, 2004. Leiden: Martinus Nijhof Publishers . p. 777-789, 13p (in compendium).
Küng, H.: "Global Politics and Global Ethic: A New Paradigm of International Relations" in Sturla J. St?lsett (red.): Religion in a Globalised Age: Transfers and Transformations, Integration and Resistance, forthcoming 2007. (Fronter text archive, 14 pp).
Leirvik, O.: "Global ethics and moral disagreement after September 11, 2001. A Christian-Muslim perspective" in Studies in Interreligious Dialogue 1, 2002. pp. 18-28 (11 pp). Online article.
(3) LEGITIMACY, JUST WAR AND VULNERABILITY (80 PP)
Fox, H. and Sandler, S.: in Bringing Religion into International Relations : Religion and Legitimacy, 2006 . New York: Palgrave Macmillan . pp. 35-61 (in compendium).
Falk, R.: in The Nation : Defining a Just War, October 29, 2001 . (8 pp) . Online article.
St?lsett, S. J. m. fl.: Vulnerability and Security. Current Challenges in Security Policy from an Ethical and Theological Perspective, 2002. Church of Norway Council on Ecumenical and International Relations, Oslo. (32 pp). Online article.
Yoder, J. H.: When War is Unjust. Being Honest in Just-War Thinking, 1996. Orbis Book, Maryknoll, N.Y.. pp 1-7, 119-129, (17 pp, in compendium).
(4) FEMINIST PERSPECTIVES (60 pp)
Elshtain, J. B.: "Is There a Feminist Tradition on War and Peace?" and Tobias, S.: "Toward a Feminist Ethic of War and Peace" in Nardin, T. (ed): The Ethics of War and Peace. Religious and Secular Perspectives, 1996. Princeton University Press, Princeton. pp. 214-227 + pp. 228-241 (38 pp, in compendium).
Steans, J.: in Gender and International Relations. : Feminist perspectives on Security, 1998 . Cambridge: Polity Press . pp 105-129 (in compendium).
= 800 pp
(5) ADDITIONAL THEMATICAL OR CASE STUDIES
An additional 200 pp. to be selected by the student – either a thematic study as the ones indicated below, or case studies related to the term paper.
(a) Christian-Muslim Relations
Rasmussen, Lissi: Bridges instead of Walls. Christian-Muslim Interaction in Denmark, Indonesia and Nigeria. Minneapolis: Lutheran University Press 2007 (217pp)
(b) Identity Politics
Sen, Amartya: Identity and Violence. The Illusion of Destiny. London and New York: W.W. Norton 2006 (187pp)
(c) Interfaith dialogue and Peacebuilding
Smock, D. R. (ed): Interfaith dialogue and peacebuilding, 2002. United States Institute of Peace, Washington. (a selection of about 100 pp), plus articles (advices can be obtained from teacher)
(d) Religion, violence and peace in the light of a particular religious tradition (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism etc.)
(c) Other tematic studies (proposed by student, approved by teacher)
(d) Case studies (proposed by student, approved by teacher)
As for case studies, the books “Terror in the mind of God” and "Faith-based diplomacy" (plus some of the articles) contain case studies to be read by all. Addtional case studies can be taken either from books or published reports (cf. religion-related reports by International Crisis Group; peace research reports such as “Healing the Holy Land: Interreligious Peacebuilding in Israel/Palestine”, or other reports according to the student’s choice).