Bible in the Age of Religious Radicalism: An Enigma or Assistive Literature

Abstract

Religious radicalism is a serious phenomenon that is dotting our age. Terrorism is currently the world’s major threat to peace. Unfortunately, terrorism is increasingly being linked to religious radicalism than to any other ideology, economic, political or any other. The solutions being offered for terrorism in the world scene are mainly military interventions. Unfortunately, many of these methods have not turned to religious text for solutions. Noting this gap, this paper aims at evaluating the usefulness and usability of the Bible in countering the ideology of religious radicalism. By employing library research, this paper uses postcolonial biblical hermeneutics to orientate the gospel of Mark to terrorism studies paying particular attention to its theme of discipleship. Data is analysed through exegesis and philosophical analysis to conclude that religious radicalism is not a preserve of one religion but cuts across all religions and one religion’s resources can overtly be useful in subverting the effects of religious radicalism caused by another religion.

Keywords: Bible, postcolonial, Quran, Terrorism, Islam, Religious, Radicalism

DOI: 10.7176/JPCR/50-04

Publication date:August 31^st 2020