Mark Juergensmeyer is a pioneer in the field of global studies whois best known for his studies of religious violence and global religion. His book, Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence is based on interviews with religious activists around the world including abortion clinic bombers in the United States, Hamas leaders, and convicted al-Qaeda leaders.
Chapter 10 of Terror in the Mind of God is part of Juergensmeyer's attempt to create a theory explaining how and why religion animates violence. Throughout the book, Juergensmeyer argues that terrorists perceive themselves to be victims, believe themselves to be participating in a cosmic, trans-temporal war between absolute good and evil, and that violence/terrorism must be dramatic/theatrical.
The attachment isn't the published chapter, but a draft of the manuscript. I couldn't find a published version online but the section "Why Guys Throw Bombs" is the section that I mentioned in class! It's only a few pages but I would love to hear people's opinions about it.
Draft can be found here.
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