Analysis week of 10/17:

Nederveen Pieterse, Jan Globalization and Culture: Global Mélance Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2004. This is one of our required readings for this class, but it does have some relevant information to for our group to consider. One of the important points that this book makes for our war, militarism, and terrorism forum is that globalization is an uneven process. Even though the divide between newly industrialized nations and the super-powers is narrowing, the gap between non-industrialized nations and industrialized nations continues to grow. This raises significant questions, particularly for terrorism. What is the response of those nations who are left out of the globalization process? What are they left to do, as they attempt to fend for themselves in an ever-growing world of power, of which they have no opportunity to partake? Is this not a breeding ground for terrorism? Also, the question of hybridization and various cultural clashes that happen in that process are important for us to consider. There is always a danger of cultures clashing, in terms of religion, values, money, and power. Competition always arises in these settings. It has been shown over and over again throughout history. This is important when discussing war and militarism.

The rest of my research this week results from looking at Scripture as a resource for Christ-followers as we ask these questions about War, Militarism and Terrorism. I have only scratched the surface of the wealth of material on these subjects in the Bible, but it is just some preliminary information to act as starting blocks for a deeper conversation.