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The Foreign Encounter in Myth and

ReligionJeffrey Haynes

a

aLondon Metropolitan University, UK

Version of record first published: 25 May 2011

To cite this article:Jeffrey Haynes (2011): The Foreign Encounter in Myth and Religion, Politics,

Religion & Ideology, 12:1, 121-122

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Kees van der Pijl,The Foreign Encounter in Myth and Religion. London: Pluto Press, 2010,

pp. xv+ 243, 25 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-7453-2316-9

The Foreign Encounter in Myth and Religionis the second volume in a trilogy on the overall

theme of Modes of Foreign Relations and Political Economy, which the books publisher

states is changing the way we think about international relations. In the first volume, Keesvan der Pijl made the argument that the current international system of nation states, which

has evolved over the last four centuries, is fundamentally a historically specific form offoreign relations, rather than a permanent fixture of international life. In the secondvolume, van der Pijl seeks to trace key characteristics over time of what he calls foreign

encounters. He works from the premise that myth, religion and ethical philosophies

have consistently informed how communities and societies interact with outsiders.

The first thing to note about the book is the truly impressive scope of the work. In a littleover 220 pages of text, van der Pijl covers thousands of years of human history and exam-

ines the interaction of societies in many parts of the world. He covers all of the world faiths

Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism and demonstrates in the

process his wide and deep reading in several languages. Van de Pijl defines foreign

relations as relations between communities occupying separate spaces and considering

each other as outsiders (p. vi). It is certainly the case, as a matter of fact, that religionspredate the modern state system and that there are many myths which might, theoreti-

cally, be examined to try to ascertain how communities and societies developed and inter-acted with each other. However, the problem with basing academic argument on what

myths may or may not tell us is that hard evidence is difficult to come by, especially if

you want that evidence to underpin academic theorising in international relations. Surpris-ing, at least to this reviewer, is the overlapping of ancient myths and modern religions in the

book, without any systematic attempt being made to explain their relationships, inter-

actions and, above all, differences. Consequently, we have the strange spectacle in severalchapters of a discussion of, for example, Hindu myths seamlessly joined to a brief examin-

ation of the role of Hindu nationalism (Hindutva) in modern Indias foreign policy, orJewish myths linked apparently unproblematically to the foreign policy of modern Israel.

Now, it may well be possible that some grasp of Hindu and Jewish myths has a place in

some foreign policy decision-makers worldviews in these countries and that, theoretically,understanding of these myths, implicitly or explicitly, may inform their preference for one

foreign policy action rather than another with consequences for those on the receiving end

of such decisions. However, this is not the same thing as understanding ancient myths asexpressions of modern religious ideas that inform actions which, at least in my reading, the

author seems to want to do. In other words, myth and modern religion may interact and

feed off each other but we need to see how this works, in what circumstances and with what

results; we cannot just assume that the links are there and carry on.A second omission in the book is a lack of sustained and explicit focus on religious trans-

nationalism as a both historic and modern alternative to state-based nationalism andnationhood. This might well have been a useful way of dealing with the question of

Politics, Religion & Ideology

Vol. 12, No. 1, 121122, March 2011

ISSN 2156-7689 Print/ISSN 2156-7697 Online/11/010121-2DOI: 10.1080/21567689.2011.564413

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what kind of religious cross-border networks and organisations have been important forinternational relations both historically and currently. I realise that to have incorporated

this focus consistently into the book would have changed its nature and centre of attention,

but if the aim is to understand myth and religion in the context of contemporary inter-national relations then it seems to me difficult to avoid doing this.

Overall, this is a scholarly, deeply researched and ultimately thought-provoking book.However, to a considerable extent, it is thought-provoking precisely because of theissues and themes it fails to clarify and develop.

JEFFREY HAYNES

London Metropolitan University, UKjeff.haynes@londonmet.ac.uk

# 2011, Jeffrey Haynes

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