Public Engagement Program

Principal Investigator: Calvin Roetzel
Sundet Professor of New Testament and Christian Studies
Department of Classics and Near Eastern Studies
College of Liberal Arts
245 Nicholson Hall
Phone: 612-624-2810
Fax: 612-624-4894
E-mail: roetz002@umn.edu

Steering Committee:

Primary Sponsor: Council on Public Engagement, University of Minnesota (COPE)

Motivation

In recent decades, the relationship between violence and religion in contemporary social and political life has become a pressing subject of public discourse. The U.S.-led war in Iraq, radical Jihadist groups in the Muslim world, radical religious Zionists in the Israeli Settler movement, the religious dimension of the conflict between Hindus and Muslims in South Asia, and the growing militancy within some U.S. Christian groups are only a few of the numerous contemporary situations linking religious conviction with violent language and action.

Among the things that scholars of religion can bring to these conversations is critical attention to the ways in which our current understandings of religious violence remain predicated on and embedded in earlier notions and contexts. In particular, our contemporary notions of religious violence are inextricably linked to the specific histories of inter-communal competition and, at times, outright antagonism, which occurred throughout the Graeco-Roman world from the early Roman period until the rise of Islam (circa 150 BCE to 750 CE), a formative period which saw the rise and consolidation of the Roman and Sasanian Empires, the gradual eclipse of traditional Graeco-Roman religions, and the emergence of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

In order to take stock of current scholarly thought on this history of “sanctified violence,” we have developed an international conference on the topic, to be held on the University of Minnesota on October 6–8, 2007. The conference will explore the diverse discourses and practices of violence that operated across a range of ethnic, linguistic, and religious communities during this early period, focusing on the political and social contexts, textual traditions, modes of representation, and ritual practices that shaped ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern conceptions of the relationship between religion and violence.

While this is an academic conference, its relevance to crucial issues of our own time makes it of signal interest to the broader public. We can hardly imagine an issue of greater public interest or importance. While the focus of the conference is on the ancient world, we have little doubt that participants will want to explore the ways in which history speaks to the contemporary world.

Project Description

With the primary sponsorship of the Council on Public Engagement at the University of Minnesota (COPE), we have paired with several local Twin Cities civic and religious organizations noted for their intellectual pursuit of knowledge and public engagement in order to make this academic conversation available to a wider audience. This partnership will consist of a number of distinct activities or phases:

These pre-and post-conference events will provide the public with opportunities to reflect on and integrate the information they glean from the conference in a closer-to-home public setting.

Significance & Sustainability

We believe that this partnership between the University of Minnesota and local Twin Cities civic and religious institutions has the potential to make a significant contribution to the public good. This partnership offers a unique opportunity for the University to play a new leadership role in shaping public discourse concerning the relationship between religion and violence, while at the same time ensuring that scholars remain in dialogue with the views and concerns of people outside academe.

While a great deal of scholarship is being produced on the topic of “religious violence,” little of it is effectively disseminated to a public audience. Work that is informed by scholarly methods is frequently deemed too complex for public consumption, and media accounts that are produced tend to be cursory, if not reductionist, and, in some cases, deliberately misleading.

As scholars of religion who have given numerous talks at religious institutions across the country, we have found audiences hungry for more nuanced and grounded information and interpretation. We see the conference on “Sanctified Violence in Ancient Mediterranean Religions” as the first step in developing long-term relationships with our current partners as well as future interested groups throughout the Twin Cities community as we continue to explore the issue of religion and violence over the coming years.

Participating Community and Religious Organizations: