Description
Book SynopsisSacred sites offer believers the possibility of communing with the divine and achieving deeper insight into their faith. Yet their spiritual and cultural importance can lead to competition as religious groups seek to exclude rivals from practicing potentially sacrilegious rituals in the hallowed space and wish to assert their own claims. Holy places thus create the potential for military, theological, or political clashes, not only between competing religious groups but also between religious groups and secular actors.
In War on Sacred Grounds, Ron E. Hassner investigates the causes and properties of conflicts over sites that are both venerated and contested; he also proposes potential means for managing these disputes. Hassner illustrates a complex and poorly understood political dilemma with accounts of the failures to reach settlement at Temple Mount/Haram el-Sharif, leading to the clashes of 2000, and the competing claims of Hindus and Muslims at Ayodhya, which resulted in
Trade Review
An important and engaging work. Hassner approaches the topic of sacred turf with refreshing new insights and perspectives.... He explores from a political science perspective why sacred places are contested and then examines why the 'indivisibility' of sacred sites makes them more problematic to solve than common territorial disputes.... The primary focus of the book then turns to the theory and practice of successful sharing of scared space as a result of direct involvement and input of religious leaders—something Hassner sees as missing from most negotiations—who in turn must work with their religious constituencies and with the political elite in reconfiguring sacred space.... We can only hope that political leaders in control of sacred spaces will read Hassner's book and that more religious leaders will then be included in peace negotiations so that they can creatively shape and reshape 'the meaning, value, and parameters of sacred space.
-- Chad F. Emmett * Middle East Journal *
Ron Hassner's War on Sacred Grounds is a tour de force. It is, quite simply, the best book on religion and war I have read. It is not merely meticulously researched, theoretically interesting, and methodologically sophisticated, it is also extremely well written.... Hassner develops a framework for studying religious sites based on a site's 'vulnerability' and its 'centrality.' This enables him to estimate the importance of sites in the eyes of worshippers and evaluate the likelihood of conflict erupting over it. He draws on insights from both political science and the sociology of religion... in a careful and sober manner, and in a way that does neither discipline injustice.
-- Havard Mokleiv Nygard * Journal of Peace Research *
Sacred sites, as Hassner shows, have particular characteristics that may differentiate them from other strategic locations in times of conflict.... War on Sacred Grounds is an illuminating work that takes religious beliefs seriously while placing them within the context of strategic political action. It provides comparative politics with theoretical insights on a highly salient issue, supported by a rich and nuanced treatment of historical examples.
-- Natan B. Sachs * Comparative Political Studies *
Table of ContentsPrologue: "A Terrifying and Fascinating Mystery"
1. On Sacred GroundsPART ONE: UNDERSTANDING CONFLICTS OVER SACRED SPACES
2. What Is Sacred Space?
3. The Indivisibility Problem
4. Conflict over Sacred Places
5. Mismanaging Conflicts over Sacred PlacesPART TWO: MANAGING CONFLICTS OVER SACRED SPACES
6. The Foundations and Limits of Religious Authority
7. Successful Conflict Management: Jerusalem, 1967
8. Successful Conflict Management: Mecca, 1979
9. Lessons from Conflicts over Sacred SpacesAcknowledgements
Notes
Index
