Prof. Juergensmeyer receives Distinguished Scholar Award

“Professor Juergensmeyer is a world-leading scholar, whose work has shaped the scholarly field of the study on religious violence, religiously motivated terrorism, religious nationalism and prospects for conflict resolution. […] As a scholar, teacher, institution-builder and commentator, he has been immensely important for the field of religion and conflict, and has inspired many others to take this field of research further. Thus, Professor Juergensmeyer has without doubt contributed significantly to the field of religion and international studies. In particular, his concept of ‘cosmic war’, referring to the metaphysical battle between the forces of Good and Evil that enlivens religious imagination and compels violent action, has provided a useful conceptual framework for the larger-than-life confrontations that religious extremists engage in today.” (Excerpt from the nomination letter.)

Professor Juergensmeyer is professor of global studies, professor of sociology, Kundan Kaur Kapany Chair of Global and Sikh Studies, and affiliate professor of religious studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he was the founding director of the Global and International Studies Program and the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies. 

Professor Juergensmeyer has published more than two hundred articles and twenty books, including Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence (University of California Press, 4th Ed, 2017), and Global Rebellion: Religious Challenges to the Secular State (University of California Press 2008). His work has had a tremendous impact on the field. To illustrate, his book Terror in the Mind of God has more than 2000 citations in Google Scholar.