The Twenty-first Century Confronts Its Gods Globalization, Technology, and War Edited by David J. Hawkin THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY CONFRONTS ITS GODS [...]... twenty-first century still has its gods, and these gods are playing a very significant role in lives of ordinary citizens and in the making of the future In The Eighteenth Century Confronts the Gods, Frank Manuel argued that the intelligentsia of the eighteenth century rejected religion, only to erect in its place other gods such as Progress and Reason He says: “If the eighteenth -century myth of origins... television and the Internet and examines their relevance to religious culture Appropriately, Newman takes his cue from Harold Coward, to whom the present volume is dedicated Indeed, the title of Newman’s essay, “Media Technology and the Future of Religions,” is taken from the title of a chapter in Coward’s book, Sacred Word, Sacred Text Newman focuses in particular on Coward’s assertion of the “primacy of the. .. length the case of Canada, which is a developed country, yet some of its regions, such as the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, have been exploited in ways similar to what has taken place in the underdeveloped world The environment seems to be particularly vulnerable when the market is allowed free rein, as is evidenced in the disappearance of the cod from the the Grand Banks, off the coast of Newfoundland... ultimately destroyed the ancient gods, pagan and Christian, les progrès became the new deities of the age.”2 Similarly, the twenty-first century also has its gods, erected after the process of secularization had supposedly vanquished religion Walter Wink, for example, in The Powers That Be: Theology for a New Millennium,3 identifies a number of “Powers” the market, the military, technology, and nationalism—that... oral.” Newman acknowledges the force of Coward’s claim, but says that the value of the written word must be recognized, as must the value of new media technologies He points out that the printing press, so vital in the dissemination of the written word, was perhaps an invention of greater importance in its time than the creation of new media technologies is today This leads him to consider the charges of. .. side of the coin was an image of the emperor’s mother seated on the divine throne The emperor was thus celebrated as the head of the pagan religion and as the divine son of divine parents The coins were a very effective way of emphasizing the cult of the deified ruler As such, they were offensive to Jewish nationalists.29 Jesus accordingly asked to be shown a denarius and inquired whose head and inscription... adherents of the major traditional religions of the world Religion and War Loy takes issue with Huntington when he says, The next world war, if there is one, will be a war between civilizations.”17 Loy argues that the fault lines in the modern world cannot be attributed simply to a clash of civilizations Their causes are complex, but we must not underestimate the power of technology and the forces of globalization. .. says: The underlying problem for the West is not Islamic fundamentalism It is Islam, a different civilization whose people are convinced of the superiority of their culture and are obsessed with the inferiority of their power The problem for Islam is not the CIA or the U.S Department of Defense It is the West, a different civilization whose people are convinced of the universality of their culture and. .. relativizes all narratives The chapters in Part 1 of this volume show how we will gain greater insight into our modern predicament when we see that there are other ways to view the role of technology in our lives and its concomitant development, the Western project of globalization. 38 The primary task, however, when thinking of war and religion is to understand the dynamic of each religion and to see what drives... think of themselves as such: they see themselves rather as freedom fighters or resisters of oppression Gorringe therefore discusses what validity there is to this claim Can terrorism, for example, ever be considered a form of just war? Gorringe argues that we should judge wars waged by legitimate states and wars waged by terrorists by the same “just war criteria There are some wars waged by states . Twenty-First Century Confronts Its Gods Globalization, Technology, and War EDITED BY David J. Hawkin STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 2004 State. The Twenty-first Century Confronts Its Gods Globalization, Technology, and War Edited by David J. Hawkin THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY CONFRONTS ITS GODS