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

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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, “This book is about religious terrorism … I have tried to get inside the mindset of those who perpetrated and supported such acts.” (pg.7). By doing this type of analysis he is able to figure out whether religious terrorism distinguishes itself out from other forms of terrorism. This is what I have interpreted as his thesis statement, because this is essentially what is being portrayed throughout the book. Since this book is filled with tons of information, I have chosen to focus on a couple of case studies he presents to analyze instead of briefly covering all six cases he has presented. The cases I have chosen are named the “Soldiers of Christ” and “Islam’s Neglected Duty”.

Before we get to the cases, I want to provide some background on our author, Mark Juergensmeyer. He currently is a professor of sociology and the Director of Global and International Studies at the University of California. He is also accountable for writing several other books such as The New Cold War? Religious Nationa...

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...nts on what the book is going to try to prove. To prove his points, Mark used mass quantities of research and facts to express the ideas he was trying to prove. In this case it was whether religious terrorism is any different than other forms of terrorism. The way he chooses to present the information is in a narrative type way, in which he used both researched information and quotes from the interviews he conducted. As I was reading this book, I imagined I was watching a documentary on the History Channel, Juergensmeyer being the narrator. His descriptions helped me picture in my mind what was going on and made me feel as I was getting an insiders view of the action. I felt that he accomplished the goals he set for the book, and by the time I got done reading it I took the stance that religious terrorism is in fact different than other terrorist activities.

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