Introduction : The enduring relationship of religion and violence / Mark Juergensmeyer, Margo Kitts, and Michael Jerryson
Part I. Overview of religious traditions
Violence and nonviolence at the heart of Hindu ethics / Veena Das
Buddhist traditions and violence / Michael Jerryson
Sikh traditions and violence / Cynthia Keppley Mahmood
Religion and violence in the Jewish traditions / Ron E. Hassner and Gideon Aran
Religion and violence in the Christian traditions / Lloyd Steffen
Muslim engagement with injustice and violence / Bruce B. Lawrence
African traditional religion and violence / Nathalie Wlodarczyk
Religion and violence in Pacific Island societies / Andrew Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart
Violence in Chinese religious traditions / Meir Shahar
Part II. Patterns and themes
The religious problem of evil / James Aho
Sacrifice/human sacrifice in religious traditions / Davíd Carrasco
Martyrdom in Islam / David Cook
Starvation and self-mutilation in religious traditions / Liz Wilson
Apocalyptic religion and violence / Jamel Velji
Cosmic war in religious traditions / Reza Aslan
Genocide and the religious imagery in Rwanda / Christopher C. Taylor
Religious terrorism as performance violence / Mark Juergensmeyer
Christianity and torture / Karen L. King
Just war and legal restraints / John Kelsay
Religiously motivated violence in the abortion debate / Julie Ingersoll
Conflicts over sacred ground / Ron E. Hassner
Religion and political violence / Monica Duffy Toft
Rituals of death and remembrance / Susumu Shimazono and Margo Kitts
Violent death in religious imagination / Margo Kitts
Part III. Analytic approaches
Religion and violence from a sociological perspective / John R. Hall
Religion and violence from an anthropological perspective / Pamela J. Stewart and Andrew Strathern
Religion and violence from a psychological perspective / James W. Jones
Religion and violence from a political science perspective / Daniel Philpott
Religion and violence from literary perspectives / Margo Kitts
Religion and violence from Christian theological perspectives / Charles Kimball
Part IV. New directions
Sacrificial violence : a problem in ancient religions / Walter Burkert
Cities as one site for religion and violence / Saskia Sassen
Armageddon in Christian, Sunni, and Shia traditions / Michael A. Sells
Phenomenal violence and the philosophy of religion / Hent De Vries
The construction of evil and the violence of purification / David Frankfurter
Mimetic theories of religion and violence / Wolfgang Palaver
Religion and scarcity : a new theory for the role of religion in violence / Hector Avalos
Ritual, religion, and violence : an evolutionary perspective / Candace S. Alcorta and Richard Sosis
Divergent modes of religiosity and armed struggle / Harvey Whitehouse and Brian McQuinn
A sociotheological approach to understanding religious violence / Mark Juergensmeyer and Mona Kanwal Sheikh.