Wenn Religion gewalttätig wird

Reference object is the Taiping-Rebellion in the context of efforts to introduce Protestantism in 19th century China leading to the establishment of the “Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace” from 1851 to 1864. With millions of victims this regimen stands for one of the greatest civil wars of mankind. Given a comprehensive body of literature the uprising constitutes a suitable research subject for a discourse analysis of the relationship between religion, violence and state control in such a way that the study enters new grounds by elaborating on differences among authors and their corresponding constructions of reality at the same time that the causes of differing perspectives are unveiled. The analysis is extended by a recourse to relevant approaches of religious studies and the historical science. As a result of a synthesis of empiricism and theory eight models of religion and violence under state control are derived in the language of the authors whose publications were subject of the discourse analysis. This way the struggle for power of interpretation is demonstrated between the poles of theocracy and secularization for one thing and for another between Marxism and modernization. Past and present are linked by taking into account the progress in knowledge since the Taiping-Rebellion thereby enabling insights into phenomena of religious violence and state control of our time.