Biblical Violence in Catholic and Calvinist Tragedy

This chapter analyzes biblical violence in Catholic and Calvinist tragedy by examining dramatic adaptations of the stories of Cain and Abel and David and Goliath. Thomas Lecoq’s Tragédie de Cain (1580) imitates the early sixteenth-century Mistére du Viel Testament and uses Cain’s murder of Abel as a counterexample of virtuous behavior at the peak of the religious wars, encouraging spectators to behave peacefully toward their neighbors despite differing beliefs. The chapter then considers how the Calvinist tragedies by Joachim de Coignac (La Desconfiture de Goliath, c.1551) and Louis Des Masures (David combattant, 1563/1566) use violence as a positive, liberating force. David’s defeat of Goliath mirrors the Reformed Church’s hopeful victory against the Roman Catholic Church. This chapter argues that Coignac and Des Masures depict David’s violence as a morally good act, yet their plays raise theological, moral, and epistemological questions of when and why it is acceptable to kill.

Creation, Fall and Political Order — Prussian Conservatism and the Old Testament

This article examines differences within the theological basis of early nineteenth-century Prussian conservatism. By exploring the usage of the Old Testament in the writings of conservative thought leaders Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg, Ernst Ludwig von Gerlach, and Friedrich Julius Stahl, this article contributes to scholarship of both traditions of biblical interpretation and that of the relation of theology and political theory. The focus of this article centers on three concepts of the Old Testament and their implementation in conservative political doctrine. I will discuss Hengstenberg’s concept of biblical historicity and unity of Scripture, Gerlach’s use of the Old Testament as the source of a role model for just religious wars and a theocratic concept of law, as well as Stahl’s bible-based political philosophy of history and the resulting model of political order. Thus, the basis for different, resulting concepts of church, state, and nation that were merged into an overall religion-based political conservative doctrine in pre-1848 Prussia are analyzed.

“No Pope Here”: Britain, the Vatican, the IRA, and the Papal Visit to Ireland, September 1979

It is often assumed, particularly by outsiders, that the conflict in Northern Ireland—known euphemistically as “the Troubles”—in which some 3,600 people lost their lives, was an atavistic throwback to Europe's religious wars of earlier centuries. In 1979, by which time some 2,000 people had already been killed in the Troubles, Pope John Paul II proposed to pay a visit to Ireland and perhaps to cross the border into Ulster's sectarian cockpit. The idea provoked outrage from some Ulster Protestants and high anxiety for the British, concerned that the Pope might inadvertently inflame the situation or embarrass the British by raising difficult issues. But there were hopes, too, that an unequivocal condemnation of violence by the head of the Catholic Church might help to bring the conflict to an end. This article, based on extensive research in diplomatic archives, reveals deep divisions within the Catholic Church on the Irish question and points to the power and limitations of the British diplomatic reach into the Vatican. It reveals also, however, the powerlessness of prayer and pleadings in the face of terrorist violence.

Afterword: Documenting Performance across the Medieval/Modern Frontier

As an afterword to the special issue of JMEMS “Performance beyond Drama,” this essay reflects on the complex ways that premodern performances and their embodied actors are captured in, mediated by, or dependent on the texts that we use to study them, and on the special importance of examining this process across a temporal framework—the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries—that challenges the periodizing schema of modernity. In particular, three major systemic changes impacted European performance practices and their documentation during this era: the more widespread availability and manufacture of paper, which made writing easier and reading cheaper, coupled with the introduction of print technology after 1455; the upheaval of the Protestant Reformation and its Catholic counterpart, and the bloody aftermath of religious wars, persecutions, and witch hunts that (re)shaped performance traditions; and the commodification and policing of entertainment through enclosure and regulation. Taken together, this special issue's contributions reveal fascinating convergences and continuities in performance across the medieval/modern frontier, while also showing how some medieval practices were made to conform with postmedieval political and religious projects, thereby obscuring or blurring the evidence for those earlier practices.

Community to Imagined Community, Social Sectarianism to Political Sectarianism

This chapter looks at the transition from a community of religion qua community to the imagined sect, from social sectarianism to political sectarianism. This chapter lists four ways in which modern political sectarianism is distinct from the social solidarity of communities of confession or sect. Sectarianism, as this chapter demonstrates, does not generally proselytize, and when it does, it is usually a matter of cultivating political loyalty. Nor are sectarian wars for influence or territory the same as religious wars; although the two may sometimes overlap in some respects, the difference is essential. The chapter also elaborates on the conditions under which social structures, including tribal and sectarian ones, become political structures. When the state manages sectarian diversity, either by suppressing it or by providing it with representation in its various organs, it entrenches it.

Features of Legal Perception of the Phenomena of Extremism and Terrorism in Different Mental Civilizations: General Theoretical and Historical-Philosophical Aspects

Introduction: the article reveals how extremism and terrorism are perceived in different mental civilizations: paganism (polytheism), monotheism and scientific worldview, from the standpoint of the legal consciousness of ordinary, canonical and secularethnic groups. The aim is to show that those phenomena which in the modern world are called extremism and terrorism and are subject to criminal punishment were perceived in exactly the opposite way in the mental eras of paganism and monotheism. Research methods: we use analysis of historical information about the phenomena of extremism and terrorism in different eras, related to the civilizational mentality of ethnic groups and peoples; we also use generalization (synthesis) of the information obtained. Results: revealing the attitude toward the phenomena that are now called “extremism” and “terrorism” in different mental civilizations allows us not only to understand the historically determined nature of these phenomena, but also to build an adequate system to counter them by changing existing approaches and methods. Conclusions: modern religious extremists and terrorists representinterests of the religious worldview and the way of life that are leaving the historical arena. Their re-socialization should be carried out taking into account civilizational mentality of religious people, relying primarily on the tolerant capabilities of the Holy Scriptures themselves. In the coming years, against the background of the natural decline of religious extremism and terrorism, there will be a rise of such types of “secular” extremism and terrorism as political, social, racial and linguistic, i.e. all those types of extremism that are listed in Articles 280 and 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. In order to counteract these types of extremism, it is necessary, first of all, to develop high legal awareness in citizens; in this regard, it is crucial that educational and psychological services of the Russian Penal System carry out systemwide and purposeful work in this direction. Keywords: extremism; terrorism; monotheism; paganism; scientific worldview; religious wars

Religion, Insurgency, and Counterinsurgency

The academic study of religion and irregular warfare has expanded considerably since the turn of the 21st century—driven by both global events such as 9/11 and empirical studies that find armed rebellions with religious dimensions to be longer, bloodier, and more difficult to resolve than nonreligious conflicts. Most of this research focuses on the religious, usually radical, ideas and practices of insurgent groups. Of particular interest has been the way religion shapes the motivations and means of guerrilla fighters. Less attention has been paid to the role of counterinsurgent armies in irregular, religious wars. Following the U.S.-led invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan, a few initial studies explored how state forces misunderstand or ignore the religious dynamics of armed conflict. A growing body of research since the mid-2010s has pushed further, cataloguing a more varied set of ways counterinsurgent forces account for religion in combat and information operations. Moving forward, studies that look at both sides of the battlefield need to expand their empirical emphases, as well as more directly address a common set of challenges to the broader study of religious violence—how best to conceptualize, measure, and analyze the religious dynamics of war. Future scholarship should also consider research designs that test the causal processes purported to link religion with conflict outcomes and pay increased attention to the interaction between insurgent and counterinsurgent forces.

Holy Week and the Theater of Art: Sculpture, Retables, and the Spanish Baroque Aesthetic

In the 16th century, the social and political changes derived from the European religious wars between Catholic and Protestant countries, economic crises, and the Counter-Reformation had an enormous impact on the evolution of visual culture. These transformations drastically changed the way in which the Catholic faithful interacted with works of art. The exemplary uses given to the images of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the saints were promoted as intermediaries between God and people. The intense realism in art served precisely this objective, since the faithful could recognize themself in these figures. In addition, the rise of the brotherhoods and penitentiary guilds led to the popularization of behaviors that imitated the Passion of Christ, such as public self-flagellation. Therefore, the Spanish processional sculpture was fully brought forward by many of these brotherhoods. Processions used theatrical resources and were very successful among the people. In the 17th century, the Hispanic baroque aesthetic was strongly linked to the Catholic Church and was especially evident during Holy Week. The public processions and their artistic resources were very successful, so much so that they have survived to the present, evolving and adapting to each period.

Transformation of the image of power on the medals of the last Valois during the Religious wars

The article is devoted to the study of images of Royal power that were used by the last Valois dynasty’s representatives, reflecting the transformations that occurred in connection with the attempt to strengthen the Royal authority with intensification of secular power and gaining spiritual power. Studying the French Royal medals of the end of the XVI century, it is possible to identify the main trends of changes in the image of the Royal power during the development of religious conflict, demonstrating the increasing role of certain Christian symbols that were used both to indicate their religious position and its presentation to society during the state crisis. The study analyzes the medals of the time of Charles IX, in particular in memory of St. Bartholomew’s night, and the medals of Henry III. Analysis of these images allows us to come to the conclusion about the evolution of ideas about the king and his power from the image of the ancient hero king that was formed at the time of the beginning of religious wars, to the restoration of the idea of the most Christian king and peacemaker king, common in the pre-Renaissance era, and which is most clearly shown in the images of Henry III.