Religion, Empire, and Torture: The Case of Achaemenian Persia, with a Postscript on Abu Ghraib
Bruce Lincoln
Abstract
How does religion stimulate and feed imperial ambitions and violence? Recently this question has acquired new urgency, and this book approaches the problem via a classic but little-studied case: Achaemenian Persia. The book identifies three core components of an imperial theology that have transhistorical and contemporary relevance: dualistic ethics, a theory of divine election, and a sense of salvific mission. Beyond this, he asks, how did the Achaemenians understand their place in the cosmos and their moral status in relation to others? Why did they feel called to intervene in the struggle b ... More
How does religion stimulate and feed imperial ambitions and violence? Recently this question has acquired new urgency, and this book approaches the problem via a classic but little-studied case: Achaemenian Persia. The book identifies three core components of an imperial theology that have transhistorical and contemporary relevance: dualistic ethics, a theory of divine election, and a sense of salvific mission. Beyond this, he asks, how did the Achaemenians understand their place in the cosmos and their moral status in relation to others? Why did they feel called to intervene in the struggle between good and evil? What was their sense of historic purpose, especially their desire to restore paradise lost? And how did this lead them to deal with enemies and critics as imperial power ran its course? The book shows how these religious ideas shaped Achaemenian practice and brought the Persians unprecedented wealth, power, and territory, but also produced unmanageable contradictions, as in a gruesome case of torture discussed in the book's final chapter. Close study of that episode leads the book back to the present with a postscript that provides a novel perspective on the photographs from Abu Ghraib.
Keywords:
religion,
imperial ambitions,
violence,
Achaemenian Persia,
imperial theology,
dualistic ethics,
divine election,
salvific mission,
moral status,
Persians
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2007 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780226481968 |
| Published to Chicago Scholarship Online: March 2013 |
DOI:10.7208/chicago/9780226481913.001.0001 |
