Demystifying the Sacred: Blasphemy and Violence from the French Revolution to Today

Open Access Published by De Gruyter Oldenbourg 2022

Demystifying the Sacred

Blasphemy and Violence from the French Revolution to Today

Edited by: Eveline G. Bouwers and David Nash
Funded by: Liberas

Volume 2 in the series New Perspectives on the History of Liberalism and Freethought

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110713091

Overview
Contents

About this book

Demystifying the Sacred: Blasphemy and Violence from the French Revolution to Today offers a much-needed analysis of a subject that historians have largely ignored, yet that has considerable relevance for today’s world: the powerful connection that exists between offences against the sacred and different forms of violence. Drawing on cases from revolutionary France to the Russia of Vladimir Putin, the international authors probe the nature and agency of local blasphemy accusations, the historical and legal framework in which they were expressed and the violence, both physical and symbolic, accompanying them. In doing so, the volume reveals how cultures of blasphemy, and related acts of heresy, apostasy and sacrilege, were a companion to or acted as a trigger for physical action but also a form of how violence was experienced. More generally, it shows the importance of religious sensibilities in modern society and the violent potential contained in criticism or ridicule of the sacred and secular alike.

Author / Editor information

Eveline G. Bouwers, Leibniz Institute of European History; David Nash, Oxford Brookes University.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Table of Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
List of Illustrations 1 Blasphemy and Violence: Crossing Social Norms and Religious Boundaries in the Modern World Eveline G. Bouwers Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
1 Blasphemy and Violence: Crossing Social Norms and Religious Boundaries in the Modern World Eveline G. Bouwers Open Access Download PDF	1
Part I: Blasphemy as a Companion to Violence
2 Violence and the Sacred, or Blasphemy during the French Revolution Alain Cabantous Open Access Download PDF	33
3 Blasphemy, Religious Adherence and Political Loyalty in the Papal States (1790s through 1810s) Marco Emanuele Omes Open Access Download PDF	57
4 Blasphemy, War and Revolution: Spain, 1936 Julio De La Cueva Open Access Download PDF	83
Part II: Blasphemy as a Form of Experienced Violence
5 Conflicting Narratives of Blasphemy, Heresy and Religious Reform: The Jatho Affair in Wilhelmine Germany Christoffer Leber Open Access Download PDF	111
6 The Imagined Violence of Blasphemy in England David Nash Open Access Download PDF	139
7 Pokémon in the Church: The Case of Ruslan Sokolovskiy and the Limits of Religious Performance in Contemporary Russia Marcin Składanowski Open Access Download PDF	171
Part III: Violence as a Reaction to Blasphemy
8 Protecting Muslims’ Feelings, Protecting Public Order: Tunisian Blasphemy Cases from the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries Laura Thompson Open Access Download PDF	197
9 The Sound of Blasphemy in Early Twentieth-Century Spain: Vulgarity, Violence and the Crowd Matthew Kerry Open Access Download PDF	219
10 The Politics of Religious Outrage: The Satanic Verses and the Ayatollah’s Licence to Kill Manfred Sing Open Access Download PDF	247
11 Conclusion David Nash Open Access Download PDF	277
Notes on Authors Open Access Download PDF	287
Abstracts Open Access Download PDF	289
Index Open Access Download PDF	295

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter Oldenbourg
Pages
- Front matter: 10
- Main content: 303
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 17
- Coloured Illustrations: 3
Keywords: Blasphemy; violence; heresy; sacrilege

eBook

Published: September 20, 2022
ISBN: 9783110713091

Hardcover

Published: September 20, 2022
ISBN: 9783110713022