A lucid and compelling case for a new American stance toward the Islamic world. What comes after jihad? Outside the headlines, believing Muslims are increasingly calling for democratic politics in their undemocratic countries. But can Islam and democracy successfully be combined? Surveying the intellectual and geopolitical terrain of the contemporary Muslim world, Noah Feldman proposes that Islamic democracy is indeed viable and desirable, and that the West, particularly the United States, should work to bring it about, not suppress it. Encouraging democracy among Muslims threatens America's autocratic Muslim allies, and raises the specter of a new security threat to the West if fundamentalists are elected. But in the long term, the greater threat lies in continuing to support repressive regimes that have lost the confidence of their citizens. By siding with Islamic democrats rather than the regimes that repress them, the United States can bind them to the democratic principles they say they support, reducing anti-Americanism and promoting a durable peace in the Middle East. After Jihad gives the context for understanding how the many Muslims who reject religious violence see the world after the globalization of democracy. It is also an argument about how American self-interest can be understood to include a foreign policy consistent with the deeply held democratic values that make America what it is. At a time when the encounter with Islam has become the dominant issue of U.S. foreign policy, After Jihad provides a road map for making democracy work in a region where the need for it is especially urgent.
This book is about the scriptural evidences in support of Muhammad in the Bible. It contains Biblical and Qur'anic scripture, History and quotes from prominent scholars of Theology.*188 Pages*Short biography of Muhammad and lineage*Qur'anic verses in Arabic and English**Art Thou That Prophet? by Mr. Jason Galvan (Abu Noah Ibrahim Ibn Mikaal) is an astute religious manual. In it Mr. Galvan thoroughly explores his Islamic faith, defending Muhammad as the true prophet. His work is More than his own deductions, but also includes a multitude of passages from the Bible and the Qur'an, evidences from secondary sources and experts, as well as many lessons in the history of Islam, Christianity,and Judaism. Art Thou That Prophet? serves as a spiritual guide, a history lesson and an intellectual exercise.** -Quote from Dorrance Publishing
Introduction: In search of the Islamic state -- Of shaykhs and kings : the making of Sudanese Islam -- Civilizing religion -- In search of certainty -- The country that prays upon the Prophet the most : the aesthetic formation of the Islamic state -- Politics in an age of salvation -- Epilogue: escaping the Islamic state?
Noah Feldman tells the story behind the increasingly popular call for the establishment of the sharia--the law of the traditional Islamic state--in the modern Muslim world. Feldman goes back to the roots of classical Islamic law, under which executive power was balanced by the scholars who interpreted and administered the sharia. That balance was destroyed under Ottoman rule, resulting in the unchecked executive dominance that continues to distort politics in so many Muslim states. Feldman argues that a modern Islamic state could provide political and legal justice to today's Muslims through sharia--but only if new institutions emerge that restore this constitutional balance of power. In a new introduction, Feldman discusses developments in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and other Muslim-majority countries since the Arab Spring and describes how Islamists must meet the challenge of balance if the new Islamic states are to succeed."--P. [4] of cover.
The true Islamic personality as defined by the Qur'an and Sunnah presents a comprehensive overview of the way in which the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and his Companions lived. This picture of the practical aspects of a truly Islamic lifestyle serves as a timely reminder for all of us. At a time when unIslamic and antiIslamic influences are spreading, via modem technology, to the heartlands of Islam and even to the remotest regions, a Muslim needs to hold firm to the distinct character of our faith, as prescribed by Allah and revealed through His Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Dr. Muhammad 'Ali alHashimi presents a wellthought out guide to the Islamic lifestyle. He starts with the Muslim's relationship with his Lord, which is the most important aspect of his life, and provides the foundation for all his other relationships. From there, he outlines how the Muslim should relate to every person in his life, starting with himself and his family, and moving on, by stages, to encompass every member of the community or society. Each point is supported by extensive quotations from the Qur'an and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).
In the Qur'an, Allah has revealed the machinations of the hypocrites, He has unveiled their beliefs, their qualities, and made their goals clear so that the believers can be aware of them. He divided mankind into three groups in the beginning of Surah al-Baqarah: the believer, the disbeliever, and the hypocrite. He mentioned four verses concerning the believers, two verses concerning the disbelievers, and thirteen verses concerning the hypocrites due to their plenitude and the great harm and tribulation they bring to Islam and the Muslims. The harm they cause to Islam is truly severe for they claim to be Muslims, they claim to aid and support Islam, whereas in reality they are its enemies seeking to destroy it from within, covertly spreading their corruption and ignorance such that the unwary thinks that what they are upon is knowledge and right action.
30 Days of Prayer Fasting Reflection Gratitude and Kindness, Ramadan Journal & Planner for All Muslims To Help You With Your Journey During The Blessed Month.
30 Days of Prayer Fasting Reflection Gratitude and Kindness, Ramadan Journal & Planner for All Muslims To Help You With Your Journey During The Blessed Month.
Ramadan Journal & Planner 30 Days of Prayer Fasting Reflection Gratitude and Kindness, Ramadan Journal & Planner for All Muslims To Help You With Your Journey During The Holy Month. Would you like to make this Ramadan Your Best? Then our Ramadan Journal & Planner is perfect for you and for the whole family. Features: Ramadan Daily Planner For 30 days Reflection and learning Section For Individual Days Daily 'Things to do ' Section To Help Get & Stay Organised Dua Reminders and much more A great gift during Ramadan for all observing the blessed month. Use this journal to record your Ramadan Journey. Order your copy now and start organising and get ready to have the month of Ramadan
Perhaps no other Western writer has more deeply probed the bitter struggle in the Muslim world between the forces of religion and law and those of violence and lawlessness as Noah Feldman. His scholarship has defined the stakes in the Middle East today. Now, in this incisive book, Feldman tells the story behind the increasingly popular call for the establishment of the shari'a--the law of the traditional Islamic state--in the modern Muslim world. Western powers call it a threat to democracy. Islamist movements are winning elections on it. Terrorists use it to justify their crimes. What, then, is the shari'a? Given the severity of some of its provisions, why is it popular among Muslims? Can the Islamic state succeed--should it? Feldman reveals how the classical Islamic constitution governed through and was legitimated by law. He shows how executive power was balanced by the scholars who interpreted and administered the shari'a, and how this balance of power was finally destroyed by the tragically incomplete reforms of the modern era. The result has been the unchecked executive dominance that now distorts politics in so many Muslim states. Feldman argues that a modern Islamic state could provide political and legal justice to today's Muslims, but only if new institutions emerge that restore this constitutional balance of power. The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State gives us the sweeping history of the traditional Islamic constitution--its noble beginnings, its downfall, and the renewed promise it could hold for Muslims and Westerners alike. In a new introduction, Feldman discusses developments in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and other Muslim-majority countries since the Arab Spring and describes how Islamists must meet the challenge of balance if the new Islamic states are to succeed.
A lucid and compelling case for a new American stance toward the Islamic world. What comes after jihad? Outside the headlines, believing Muslims are increasingly calling for democratic politics in their undemocratic countries. But can Islam and democracy successfully be combined? Surveying the intellectual and geopolitical terrain of the contemporary Muslim world, Noah Feldman proposes that Islamic democracy is indeed viable and desirable, and that the West, particularly the United States, should work to bring it about, not suppress it. Encouraging democracy among Muslims threatens America's autocratic Muslim allies, and raises the specter of a new security threat to the West if fundamentalists are elected. But in the long term, the greater threat lies in continuing to support repressive regimes that have lost the confidence of their citizens. By siding with Islamic democrats rather than the regimes that repress them, the United States can bind them to the democratic principles they say they support, reducing anti-Americanism and promoting a durable peace in the Middle East. After Jihad gives the context for understanding how the many Muslims who reject religious violence see the world after the globalization of democracy. It is also an argument about how American self-interest can be understood to include a foreign policy consistent with the deeply held democratic values that make America what it is. At a time when the encounter with Islam has become the dominant issue of U.S. foreign policy, After Jihad provides a road map for making democracy work in a region where the need for it is especially urgent.
Since 2003, the ongoing violence and subsequent humanitarian crisis in Darfur has attracted significant international media attention. Here, Noah R. Bassil offers a re-conception of the conflict in Darfur by examining the origins and progression of the conflict through the broader issue of state failure in postcolonial Sudan. By moving away from a 'localised' view of the conflict, Bassil is able to demonstrate the extent to which the breakdown of social relations in Darfur is interconnected with the wider breakdown of Sudanese and post-colonial societies more broadly, offering a definitive study of the nexus between international, national and local forces and providing a coherent framework for understanding the causes of the civil war that erupted in the Darfur region of Sudan in 2003. The Post-Colonial State and Civil War in Sudan offers a thorough examination of the historical development of the Sudanese state, from an analysis of the colonial state structure to the post-colonial state struggles and from the failure of the state-led development project to the impact these had on the Darfur region. It therefore demonstrates how Sudan's political instability, recurrent civil wars and crisis of identity provide an important context for understanding why Darfur became the location of a major rebellion against the government in 2003,and in fact created the very conditions for conflict in Darfur. Looking forward towards peace in post-colonial societies, Bassil urges the abandonment of neo-liberal policies and a return to an international system that is based on building state-capacity and state legitimacy as the most effective mechanisms for rebuilding political and social relations in regions that have suffered crises in the post-colonial state. Rather than examining Darfur as a sui generis conflict, through the analysis here, it becomes evident that in fact, the events in Darfur are far from unusual, but part of the wider contemporary demise of the post-colonial state building project. This book therefore provides a unique examination of the conflict and the wider postcolonial situation, making it an important contribution to the fields of History, International Relations and Peace Studies.
This daily digest of intellectual challenge and learning will arouse curiosity, refresh knowledge, expand horizons, and keep the mind sharp Millions of Americans keep bedside books of prayer and meditative reflection—collections of daily passages to stimulate spiritual thought and advancement. The Intellectual Devotional is a secular version of the same—a collection of 365 short lessons that will inspire and invigorate the reader every day of the year. Each daily digest of wisdom is drawn from one of seven fields of knowledge: history, literature, philosophy, mathematics and science, religion, fine arts, and music. Impress your friends by explaining Plato's Cave Allegory, pepper your cocktail party conversation with opera terms, and unlock the mystery of how batteries work. Daily readings range from important passages in literature to basic principles of physics, from pivotal events in history to images of famous paintings with accompanying analysis. The book's goal is to refresh knowledge we've forgotten, make new discoveries, and exercise modes of thinking that are ordinarily neglected once our school days are behind us. Offering an escape from the daily grind to contemplate higher things, The Intellectual Devotional is a great way to awaken in the morning or to revitalize one's mind before retiring in the evening.
A groundbreaking academic anthology that explores the emerging field of interreligious/interfaith studies As it is now backed by an impressive number of courses, academic programs and centers, faculty positions, journals and publications, funding, and professional partnerships, there is no longer a question as to whether the interreligious/interfaith field exists. But its meaning and import are still being debated. How is this field distinct from, yet similar to, other fields, such as religious or theological studies? What are its signature pedagogies and methodologies? What are its motivations and key questions? In other words, what is the shape of interfaith and interreligious studies, and what is its distinct contribution? These questions are the driving force behind this anthology.
This book explains why the best way to understand the Jewish historical experience is to look at Jewish people, not just as a religious or ethnic group or a nation or "people," but, as bearers of civilization. This approach helps to explain the greatest riddle of Jewish civilization, namely, its continuity despite destruction, exile, and loss of political independence. In the first part of the book, Eisenstadt compares Jewish life and religious orientations and practices with Hellenistic and Roman civilizations, as well as with Christian and Islamic civilizations. In the second part of the book, he analyzes the modern period with its different patterns of incorporation of Jewish communities into European and American societies; national movements that developed among Jews toward the end of the nineteenth century, especially the Zionist movement; and specific characteristics of Israeli society. The major question Eisenstadt poses is to what extent the characteristics of the Jewish experience are distinctive, in comparison to other ethnic and religious minorities incorporated into modern nation-states, or other revolutionary ideological settler societies. He demonstrates through his case studies the continuous creativity of Jewish civilization.
This book is about the scriptural evidences in support of Muhammad in the Bible. It contains Biblical and Qur'anic scripture, History and quotes from prominent scholars of Theology.*188 Pages*Short biography of Muhammad and lineage*Qur'anic verses in Arabic and English**Art Thou That Prophet? by Mr. Jason Galvan (Abu Noah Ibrahim Ibn Mikaal) is an astute religious manual. In it Mr. Galvan thoroughly explores his Islamic faith, defending Muhammad as the true prophet. His work is More than his own deductions, but also includes a multitude of passages from the Bible and the Qur'an, evidences from secondary sources and experts, as well as many lessons in the history of Islam, Christianity,and Judaism. Art Thou That Prophet? serves as a spiritual guide, a history lesson and an intellectual exercise.** -Quote from Dorrance Publishing
A New York Times Bestseller A leading public intellectual’s timely reckoning with how Jews can and should make sense of their tradition and each other. What does it mean to be a Jew? At a time of worldwide crisis, venerable answers to this question have become unsettled. In To Be a Jew Today, the legal scholar and columnist Noah Feldman draws on a lifelong engagement with his religion to offer a wide-ranging interpretation of Judaism in its current varieties. How do Jews today understand their relationship to God, to Israel, and to each other—and live their lives accordingly? Writing sympathetically but incisively about diverse outlooks, Feldman clarifies what’s at stake in the choice of how to be a Jew, and discusses the shared “theology of struggle” that Jews engage in as they wrestle with who God is, what God wants, or whether God exists. He shows how the founding of Israel has transformed Judaism itself over the last century—and explores the ongoing consequences of that transformation for all Jews, who find the meaning of their Jewishness and their views about Israel intertwined, no matter what those views are. And he examines the analogies between being Jewish and belonging to a large, messy family—a family that often makes its members crazy, but a family all the same. Written with learning, empathy and clarity, To Be a Jew Today is a critical resource for readers of all faiths.
In this timely textbook, authors Drezner and Huehls take the interdisciplinary, complex nature of the study of philanthropy and fundraising and apply it to the field of higher education. Covering issues of increasing importance to institutions—including donor cultivation, growth of fundraising at community colleges and minority institutions, engagement of young alumni, volunteerism, and the competing roles of stakeholders—this book helps readers apply theory to the practice of advancement in post-secondary education. Special Features: Coverage of historical and theoretical underpinnings and insights from related literature and research. Discussion of new donor populations including women, communities of color, the LGBTQ population, students, and young alumni. On-the-ground case studies bring theories into focus by creating a bridge to experience and action. Practical implications for the design of fundraising campaigns and strategies. Guiding questions that encourage students to think beyond the current literature and practice. This textbook bridges research, theory, and practice to help higher education administrators and institutions effectively negotiate the fundraising terrain and advance their institution.
Professor S.N. Eisenstadt has written numerous essays on Jewish Identity over the years. This volume brings together some of these. The major argument of the essays follows the Weberian view of Jewish historical experience as that of a distinct civilization, as a distinct Great Religion, the first monotheistic civilization - without, however, accepting many of Weber's concrete analyses.
The fifth installment of the bestselling Intellectual Devotional series features 365 captivating entries about the most celebrated personalities in history. Like its compulsively readable predecessors, The Intellectual Devotional Biographies is organized into seven categories, one for each day of the week. With their trademark wit and style, authors David Kidder and Noah Oppenheim offer an array of fascinating facts about major figures from Atilla the Hun to Desmond Tutu. In this daily devotional, you will learn about: • authors and artists, from Homer and Ovid to Oscar Wilde and Virginia Woolf • leaders, such as Queen Elizabeth I, Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony, and Napoleon Bonaparte • innovators, from Johannes Gutenberg to Isaac Newton to Werner Heisenberg • philosophers, including Socrates, Epicurus, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Jean-Paul Sartre • rebels and reformers, from Joan of Arc and Spartacus to Galileo and Che Guevara • preachers and prophets, including Lao-tzu, John the Baptist, Martin Luther, and Gandhi • villains, such as Benedict Arnold, Genghis Khan, Ivan the Terrible, and Jack the Ripper This volume shares the personal histories, accomplishments, and troubles of 365 people who have left an indelible mark on the world.
This book examines the state of China’s grand strategy in the 21st century, including political, military and economic factors. Over the past two decades, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has attained the second highest gross domestic product in the world, taken a leadership role in East Asian regional organisations and substantially improved its military capabilities. Each of these developments – and many others like them – have attracted attention from scholars, journalists and policymakers. Less frequently acknowledged – but perhaps of greater significance – is the impressive congruence of Beijing’s accomplishments. This book highlights how the PRC’s successes support one another and pave the way for future accomplishments, and how these successes seem to be achieved in an unusually coherent and purposeful way. As Beijing’s relations with the rest of the world continue to evolve, with events ranging from the ongoing global economic crisis to the turbulence in China’s own stock market which may bring the PRC’s government under pressure to re-order its priorities, this book assesses China’s grand strategy and long-term approach to national policy. It identifies the political, military and economic instruments it is likely to use, the key challenges which it will face, and explores the implications for the global community. This book will be of great interest to students of Chinese politics, foreign policy, strategic studies, international security and IR in general.
Introduction: In search of the Islamic state -- Of shaykhs and kings : the making of Sudanese Islam -- Civilizing religion -- In search of certainty -- The country that prays upon the Prophet the most : the aesthetic formation of the Islamic state -- Politics in an age of salvation -- Epilogue: escaping the Islamic state?
Anthropologists and historians have confirmed the central role alcohol has played in nearly every society since the dawn of human civilization, but it is only recently that it has been the subject of serious scholarly inquiry. The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails is the first major reference work to cover the subject from a global perspective, and provides an authoritative, enlightening, and entertaining overview of this third branch of the alcohol family. It will stand alongside the bestselling Companions to Wine and Beer, presenting an in-depth exploration of the world of spirits and cocktails in a groundbreaking synthesis. The Companion covers drinks, processes, and techniques from around the world as well as those in the US and Europe. It provides clear explanations of the different ways that spirits are produced, including fermentation, distillation, and ageing, alongside a wealth of new detail on the emergence of cocktails and cocktail bars, including entries on key cocktails and influential mixologists and cocktail bars. With entries ranging from Manhattan and mixology to sloe gin and stills, the Companion combines coverage of the range of spirit-based drinks around the world with clear explanations of production processes, and the history and culture of their consumption. It is the ultimate guide to understanding what is in your glass. The Companion is lavishly illustrated throughout, and appendices include a timeline of spirits and distillation and a guide to mixing drinks.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In Sapiens, he explored our past. In Homo Deus, he looked to our future. Now, one of the most innovative thinkers on the planet turns to the present to make sense of today’s most pressing issues. “Fascinating . . . a crucial global conversation about how to take on the problems of the twenty-first century.”—Bill Gates, The New York Times Book Review NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY FINANCIAL TIMES AND PAMELA PAUL, KQED How do computers and robots change the meaning of being human? How do we deal with the epidemic of fake news? Are nations and religions still relevant? What should we teach our children? Yuval Noah Harari’s 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is a probing and visionary investigation into today’s most urgent issues as we move into the uncharted territory of the future. As technology advances faster than our understanding of it, hacking becomes a tactic of war, and the world feels more polarized than ever, Harari addresses the challenge of navigating life in the face of constant and disorienting change and raises the important questions we need to ask ourselves in order to survive. In twenty-one accessible chapters that are both provocative and profound, Harari builds on the ideas explored in his previous books, untangling political, technological, social, and existential issues and offering advice on how to prepare for a very different future from the world we now live in: How can we retain freedom of choice when Big Data is watching us? What will the future workforce look like, and how should we ready ourselves for it? How should we deal with the threat of terrorism? Why is liberal democracy in crisis? Harari’s unique ability to make sense of where we have come from and where we are going has captured the imaginations of millions of readers. Here he invites us to consider values, meaning, and personal engagement in a world full of noise and uncertainty. When we are deluged with irrelevant information, clarity is power. Presenting complex contemporary challenges clearly and accessibly, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is essential reading. “If there were such a thing as a required instruction manual for politicians and thought leaders, Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari’s 21 Lessons for the 21st Century would deserve serious consideration. In this collection of provocative essays, Harari . . . tackles a daunting array of issues, endeavoring to answer a persistent question: ‘What is happening in the world today, and what is the deep meaning of these events?’”—BookPage (top pick)
True Faith and Allegiance is a provocative account of nationalism and the politics of turning immigrants into citizens and Americans. Noah Pickus offers an alternative to the wild swings between emotionally fraught positions on immigration and citizenship of the past two decades. Drawing on political theory, history, and law, he argues for a renewed civic nationalism that melds principles and peoplehood. This tradition of civic nationalism held sway at America's founding and in the Progressive Era. Pickus explores how, from James Madison to Teddy Roosevelt, its proponents sought to combine reason and reverence and to balance inclusion and exclusion. He takes us through controversies over citizenship for blacks and the rights of aliens at the nation's founding, examines the interplay of ideas and institutions in the Americanization movement in the 1910s and 1920s, and charts how both left and right promoted a policy of neglect toward immigrants and toward citizenship in the second half of the twentieth century. True Faith and Allegiance shows that contemporary debates over a range of immigration and citizenship policies cannot be resolved by appeals to fixed notions of creed or culture, but require a supple civic nationalism that bridges the gap between immigrants' needs and American principles and practices. It is critical reading for scholars, policy makers, and all who care about immigrants and about America.
Based on ethnographic fieldwork spanning twenty years, Power Plays is the first scholarly book in English on wayang golek, the Sundanese rod-puppet theater of West Java. It is a detailed and lively account of the ways in which performers of this major Asian theatrical form have engaged with political discourses in Indonesia. Wayang golek has shaped, as well, the technological and commercial conditions of art and performance in a modernizing society. Using interviews with performers, musical transcriptions, translations of narrative and song texts, and archival materials, author Andrew N. Weintraub analyzes the shifting and flexible nature of a set of performance practices called Padalangan, the art of the puppeteer. He focuses on "superstar" performers and the musical troupes that dominated wayang golek during the New Order political regime of former president Suharto (1966-98) and the ensuing three years of the post-Suharto period. Studies of actual performances illuminate stylistic and formal elements and situate wayang golek as a social process in Sundanese culture and society. Power Plays includes an interactive multimedia CD-ROM of wayang golek. Power Plays shows how meanings about identity, citizenship, and community are produced through theater, music, language, and discourse. While based in ethnographic theory and methods, this book is at the center of a new synthesis emerging among ethnomusicology, anthropology, and cultural studies. Its cross-disciplinary approach will inspire researchers studying similar struggles over cultural authority and popular representation in culture and the performing arts.
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Sapiens comes the groundbreaking story of how information networks have made, and unmade, our world. “Masterful and provocative.”—Mustafa Suleyman For the last 100,000 years, we Sapiens have accumulated enormous power. But despite all our discoveries, inventions, and conquests, we now find ourselves in an existential crisis. The world is on the verge of ecological collapse. Misinformation abounds. And we are rushing headlong into the age of AI—a new information network that threatens to annihilate us. For all that we have accomplished, why are we so self-destructive? Nexus looks through the long lens of human history to consider how the flow of information has shaped us, and our world. Taking us from the Stone Age, through the canonization of the Bible, early modern witch-hunts, Stalinism, Nazism, and the resurgence of populism today, Yuval Noah Harari asks us to consider the complex relationship between information and truth, bureaucracy and mythology, wisdom and power. He explores how different societies and political systems throughout history have wielded information to achieve their goals, for good and ill. And he addresses the urgent choices we face as non-human intelligence threatens our very existence. Information is not the raw material of truth; neither is it a mere weapon. Nexus explores the hopeful middle ground between these extremes, and in doing so, rediscovers our shared humanity.
This ambitious and well-researched study brings together for the first time translations of the ancient literature concerning the Sumerian god Enki, one of four gods and goddesses who comprised the highest level of the Sumerian pantheon. The very existence of these writings, which date from the Third Millennium B.C., was unknown until about 100 years ago, when their cuneiform script was deciphered. Since then, it has become apparent that Sumerian literature had a profound and enduring influence on both Biblical and classical Greek literature, and so on the literature of the western world as a whole. Kramer, one of the world's leading sumerologists, has prepared these translations from among the scores of works he has published over the last fifty years; John Maier provides a full interpretive framework that places the translations in their broader comparative cultural context. This rare collection will be of interest to students and scholars in a wide range of disciplines from Near Eastern and Biblical Studies to Mythology and Comparative Literature.
In this critical work on the political thought of Leo Strauss, Sean Noah Walsh addresses Leo Strauss’s claims about esotericism in the philosophic texts of Plato. He challenges Strauss’s understanding of esoteric writing as an attempt by Plato to secretly encode the highest truths “exclusively between the lines” in order to avoid persecution. Indeed, through the character of Socrates, the speaker with whom Plato is inextricably associated, Walsh asserts that Plato’s exoteric writings were sufficiently incendiary and provocative to demonstrate that a fear of persecution was not his highest priority. The politics that follow from Strauss’s thought depend on the interpretation of these Platonic philosophical bases and by analyzing how the problem of fear has been confronted in the works of Plato and Leo Strauss, Walsh offers a direct and thorough account of the politics that emerge from Strauss’s esoteric reading of political philosophy. Applying Lacanian psychoanalysis, Walsh investigates the discourse of Straussian esotericism. and examines Plato’s writing for examples of exoteric risk, subjecting both Plato and Strauss’s writings to Lacan's psychoanalytic technique for interpreting the function of desire in discourse. Given the continuing influence of Strauss’s ideas on contemporary politics, particularly within American foreign policy, Walsh’s examination of this Straussian esotericism for these effects will prove an interesting read for political theorists, international relations scholars, and philosophers alike.
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