Abstract
Spiritual violence is a modern concept expressing the abusive aspects of religion. This article observes the potential for spiritual violence within the rhetoric of the Gospel of Matthew, a principal text of the dominant world religion. Utilizing the supernatural punishment hypothesis of religion as a theoretical background, this cross-disciplinary analysis opens perspectives on the use of religious power in the past and the present.
Highlights
The concept of spiritual violence is used to define the misuse of religious power, interconnecting sociological, psychologic al, juridical, theological and moral dimensions of religiously motivated conduct
I have chosen to utilize the defin ition of Finnish Evangelical Lutheran church in my analysis, because of its practical categorizations of spiritual violence appearing as intimidation, conversion, accusation, isolation and control
Considering the categorization of spiritual violence that I have chosen to make use of in my analysis of Matthew, we can see intimidation, conversion, accusation, isolation and control as categories associated with surveillance and punishments: religious rhetoric of intimidation, conversion and accusation rely on the whole on the threat of supernatural punishments
Summary
Spiritual violence is a modern concept expressing the abusive aspects of religion. This article observes the potential for spiritual violence within the rhetoric of the Gospel of Matthew, a principal text of the dominant world religion. Utilizing the supernatural punishment hypothesis of religion as a theoretical background, this cross-disciplinary analysis opens perspectives on the use of religious power in the past and the present
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