Cosmic War By Juergensmeyer Summary

Images of divine warfare are persistent features of religious activism, as they provide the cultural content and themes within a world view that are played out in scenarios which lie behind contemporary acts of performance violence (Juergensmeyer, p 149). The term “cosmic war” according to Mark Juergensmeyer describes social images of war which, transcending human experience, evoke battles of the legendary past that relate to metaphysical, broader conflicts between good and evil, right and wrong, order and disorder (Juergensmeyer, p. 149). Perpetrators of religious violence have placed such images of cosmic war- a divine struggle- within global political battles, promoting religious terrorism from a tactic in political strategy to also bringing on a much
In this sense, loosing such a battle would mean to loose everything one is and has, so the overthrow of everything is necessary. More specifically, Juergensmeyer explains how confrontations are likely to be characterized as cosmic war when the struggle is perceived as a defenses of basic identity and dignity; losing the struggle would be unthinkable; or the struggle is blocked and cannot be won in real time or in real terms (p. 165). According to Juergensmeyer, the idea of cosmic war is not specific to any particular religion such as Christianity or Islam, instead every religious tradition contains such images of a grand battle that have a divine valence to them. Although this does not mean that such images will always lead to religious violence. Images of cosmic war promote an ‘absolute dualism’ where coexistence is impossible, compromise unlikely, and suggestions of negotiation are criticized just as enemies are (Juergensmeyer, p. 157). One main reason such a state of war is preferable in religion over peace is that it gives moral justification to acts of violence, which in turn offers the illusion of power (Juergensmeyer, p.