Dimensions
169 x 244 x 19mm
John D'Arcy May explores the relationship between religion and violence through detailed case studies of encounters between different religious traditions.
What is the relationship between religion and violence? Are the "tribal" religions intrinsically violent, whereas the "universal" religions inspire peacemaking? Are the monotheisms more likely to incite violence that the non-theistic traditions of Asia?
In the first two parts of the book, John May presents four highly detailed case studies, filled with Geertzian "thick description", of the encounters of Christianity and Buddhism (religions with a high quotient of "transcendence") with various primal or "biocosmic" traditions of the Asian-Pacific region, namely, Aboriginal Australia and Melanesia vis-a-vis Buddhism.
In each case, the encounters represented a failure of the great tradition. In the third, constructive part of the book, May shows how the acknowledgement of these failures can provide a back door to dialogue.
