How is symbolic violence related to the real acts of religious violence around the modern world? The authors of this book, first published in 1992, explore this question as well as responding to theories about the issue from René Girard's Violence and the Sacred (1977).

1. Editor's Introduction: Is Symbolic Violence Related to Real Violence? Mark Juergensmeyer 2. Violence Against Violence: Islam in Comparative Context Mark R. Anspach 3. Sacrifice and Fratricide in Shiite Lebanon Martin Kramer 4. Violence and Catastrophe in the Theology of Rabbi Meir Kahane: The Ideologization of Mimetic Desire Ehud Sprinzak 5. The Mythologies of Religious Radicalism: Judaism and Islam Emmanuel Sivan 6. The Islamic Idiom of Violence: A View from Indonesia Bruce B. Lawrence 7. Sacrifice and Cosmic War Mark Juergensmeyer 8. Some General Observations on Religion and Violence David C. Rapoport 9. A Response: Reflections from the Perspective of Mimetic Theory René Girard and Mark R. Anspach