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Aviel Roshwald
Department of History
GeorgetownUniversity
ICC 606/ Tel. 687-6089
Office hours:
Tues. 1:00-2:00/Thurs. 5:00-6:00
and by appointment
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History 446--Religious Wars: From Crusades to al-Qaeda
The catchphrase “religious war” lies at the tip of everyone’s tongue these days, yet no one has a clear idea of what the term denotes. In one form or another, religion has had a role to play in most major conflicts throughout recorded history. Divine sanction has been invoked and/or heavenly protection called for by most parties to most wars, from the inter-state struggles of the ancient Middle East and Mediterranean to the twentieth century’s world wars. But if we define all such conflicts as religious wars, the term will cease to have any analytical value. By the same token, throwing out the term altogether risks obscuring differences between wars that are heavily colored by religious sensibilities and those that are not.
This course will struggle with these and other conceptual problems through the examination of theoretical works as well as historical case studies ranging from the Crusades, to the Thirty Years’ War, to 9/11 and its aftermath. The emphasis will be on classroom discussion of assigned readings. Students will be assigned two short papers as well as a research paper on a topic of their choosing. Although the course will focus heavily on Europe and the Middle East, research papers can address any form of interaction between religion and warfare in any historical period and in any region of the world.
Our weekly discussions will focus on common reading assignments. Each of you is also to write a 12-15-page research or historiographical (lit-review) paper, to be due on Thursday, May 4. In addition, there will be two, five-page, assigned-topic papers. Term-paper topics are by no means confined to the case studies we explore in this course; feel free to pick a case study from any other part of the world or time period (as long as your choice of region conforms with the major or minor field towards which you are counting this course). I will be glad to review drafts of your papers in advance of the submission deadline.
This course is a colloquium, not a lecture class, and its success depends in large measure upon active participation on the part of the students. Class discussions will focus on a common set of weekly readings.
PLEASE NOTE: The class-participation portion of the grade (see below) is based both upon regular and informed participation in discussions of the weekly assignments, and upon oral presentations. Your comments and opinions DO NOT have to be brilliant; they DO have to be informed by the assigned reading.
ALSO: PLEASE DO NOT BRING FOOD INTO THE CLASSROOM.
Papers
Term Paper
In addition to keeping up with the weekly readings, each or you will work on an individual project, to be presented at the end of the semester (in both oral and written forms). These research or literature-review papers can focus on issues related to a specific case of religious warfare (from any time period and any region of the world), or on a theoretical controversy. Comparative analyses are also welcome. Papers must be based on a minimum of 15 sources (including articles), and should be approximately 12-15 pages long. Completed papers will be due on Thursday, December 13 (to be delivered to my departmental mailbox by 4:00 P.M.).
There will be two, graded, short-paper assignments, each of which will be a 5-page essay addressing questions related to the assigned reading.
Grading formula
Class participation: 30%
Two short (5-page) papers: 30% (15% apiece)
Term paper: 40%
Failure to complete any one of the above components will result in failure of the course as a whole.
Class Schedule
Week 1 (Jan. 10): Introduction
Week 2 (Jan. 17)
Azar Gat, War in Human Civilization
Week 3 (Jan. 24)
Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life
K. Repgen, “What is a ‘Religious War’?” in E. Kouri, and T. Scott, eds., Politics and Society in Reformation Europe(on electronic reserve at Lauinger)
Week 4 (Jan. 31)
Christopher Tyerman, The Crusades: A Very Short Introduction
Thomas F. Madden, ed.,The Crusades: The Essential Readings(excerpts to be assigned)
Week 5 (Feb. 7)
Francesco Gabrieli, Arab Historians of the Crusades (excerpts to be assigned)
“Christian Chronicles of the Crusades” (on electronic reserve at Lauinger)
Week 6 (Feb. 14) Short-paper #1 topic assignment handed out today
Andrew Cunningham and Ole Peter Grell, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Religion, War, Famine and Death in Reformation Europe(excerpts to be assigned)
Week 7 (Feb 21) Short-paper #1 due in class today
Barbara Diefendorf, Beneath the Cross: Catholics and Huguenots in Sixteenth-Century Paris
Week 8 (Feb. 28)
Richard Bonney, The Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648
R.A. Bireley, “The Thirty Years War as Germany’s Religious War,” in K. Repgen, ed., Krieg und Politik 1618-1648
Spring Break
Week 9 (March 13)
Oliver McTernan, Violence in God's Name: Religion in an Age of Conflict
Second Break
Week 10 (March 27)
Olivier Roy, Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah
Week 11 (April 3) Short-paper #2 topic handed out today
John Kelsay, Arguing the Just War in Islam
Week 12 (April 10) Short-paper #2 due in class today
Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations
Week 13 (April 17)
Oral presentations
Week 14 (April 24)
Oral presentations
Books Recommended for Purchase
Richard Bonney, The Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648(Osprey, ISBN-13 978-1841763781)
Andrew Cunningham and Ole Peter Grell, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Religion, War, Famine and Death in Reformation Europe (CambridgeUniversity Press, 2001),ISBN-13: 978-0521467018
Barbara Diefendorf, Beneath the Cross: Catholics and Huguenots in Sixteenth-Century Paris, new edn (Oxford University Press, 1991), ISBN-13: 978-0195070132
Emile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (OxfordUniversity Press, 2001),
ISBN-13: 978-0192832559
Azar Gat, War in Human Civilization (OxfordUniversity Press, 2006),ISBN-13: 978-0199262137
Francesco Gabrieli, Arab Historians of the Crusades(University of California Press, 1984),
ISBN-13: 978-0520052246
John Kelsay, Arguing the Just War in Islam (Cambridge, Mass., HarvardUniversity Press),ISBN-13:978-0674026391
Thomas F. Madden, ed.,The Crusades: The Essential Readings(Wiley, 2002), ISBN-13: 978-0631230236
Oliver McTernan, Violence in God's Name: Religion in an Age of Conflict(Orbis, 2003), ISBN-13: 978-1570755002
Olivier Roy, Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah (ColumbiaUniversity Press, 2004), ISBN-13: 978-0231134996
Christopher Tyerman, The Crusades: A Very Short Introduction (OxfordUniversity Press, 2000), ISBN-13:978-0192806550
Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations, 4th edn(New York: Basic Books, 2006), ISBN-13: 978-0465037070