Theologies of Terror: From IRA to ISIS

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

In this course, we examine the various moral and theological justifications that individual believers and religious groups have invoked in support of the use of lethal violence, especially against innocent persons, to advance specific political ends. To do so, we will investigate the politics, ideology, and theology that animated the "terror" campaigns waged by the Irish Republican Army (1916-1922), the Provisional Irish Republican Army (1969-1997), Al-Qaeda (1988-), and ISIS (1999-). Throughout the course, we ask how, and to what extent, the religious beliefs or ideals of these groups influenced, supported, or restrained the kind of "violence" they adopted in pursuit of their stated political objectives. To provide an informed answer to this question, we will engage with some of the more influential texts (scriptural, philosophical, and theological) that have shaped Muslim and Christian perspectives on the moral justifications and limits of coordinated campaigns of lethal violence.