Martyrdom in the Modern Middle East / Sasha Dehghani, Silvia Horsch.

• Author: Traditions of Martyrdom in the Modern Middle East (Conference) Berlin, Germany)
• TeilnehmendeR: Dehghani, Sasha; Horsch, Silvia
• Place / Publishing House: Baden-Baden : : Ergon-Verlag,, 2014.
• Year of Publication: 2014
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (227 pages)

This volume assembles contributions from different academic perspectives (religious and Islamic studies, literary and theatre studies, theology, sociology and history) on modern manifestations of martyrdom in the diverse Middle Eastern religious traditions, including Islam, Christianity, Judaism and the Baha'i-faith. The latter is considered in more detail since it is often not included in comparative studies on the monotheistic religions. An excursus into the farer East composes the contribution on Mahatma Gandhi. The volume considers central sociological, philosophical and theological problems which lie at the heart of the phenomenon of martyrdom, the significance of martyrdom in different conflicts, the competing martyr figures which develop in the course of these conflicts as well as the accompanying representations in art and ritual.

Table of Contents

Continuity and transformation : martrydom in the Bahā'ī faith. The birth of a monotheistic religion in modernity : on jihad and martyrdom in the Bahā'ī Faith / Sasha Dehghani. Martrydom and servanthood in the Bābī and Bahā'ī faiths : a struggle to defend a cosmic order / Per-Olof Åkerdahl. Between Karbalā' and Tabriz : contested martyrdom narratives / Moojan Momen -- Witnessing and sacrifice : theological and philosophical implications of martyrdom. Sunni and Shiite passion stories revisited : on the superseding of sacrifice and its eventual re-empowerment / Angelika Neuwirth. Martyrium als Zeugnis : zur Frage nach der theologischen und politischen Valenz religiöser Zeugenschaft, dargelegt am Beispiel des Martyriums der Trappistenmönche von Tibhirine/Algerien / Joachim Negel. Gandhi and the sovereignty of death / Faisal Devji -- Visual representations : ritual, the arts, and new media. Performing a massacre : murder and martyrdom in taʻziyih / Maryam Palizban. The mystical notion of the perfect man : discourses of Iranian revolutionary painters and the portrayal of martyrs / Alice Bombardier. Making salvation visible : rhetorical and visual representations of martyrs in Salafi jihadist media / Silvia Horsch -- Political action and ideological discourse. Martyrdom in light of the Arab Spring / Farhad Khosrokhavar. The discursive construction of Palestinian istishhādiyyāt within the frame of martyrdom / Lisa Franke. Global martyr practices and discourses : entanglements between East and West / Silvia Horsch.