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  1. Home
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  3. Faith in Politics
  • Cited by 35
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
June 2012
Print publication year:
2010
Online ISBN:
9780511760365
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511760365
Subjects:
Political Theory, Religion, Politics and International Relations, Religion: General Interest
Information

Book description

No account of contemporary politics can ignore religion. The liberal democratic tradition in political thought has long treated religion with some suspicion, regarding it as a source of division and instability. Faith in Politics shows how such arguments are unpersuasive and dependent on questionable empirical claims: rather than being a serious threat to democracies' legitimacy, stability and freedom, religion can be democratically constructive. Using historical cases of important religious political movements to add empirical weight, Bryan McGraw suggests that religion will remain a significant political force for the foreseeable future and that pluralist democracies would do well to welcome rather than marginalize it.

Reviews

‘Bryan McGraw provides an insightful, compelling treatment of the place of religion in liberal democracy. His empirical and philosophical case prompts readers to rethink existing understandings of tolerance, deliberation, and legitimacy in religiously plural democracies.'

Lucas Swaine - Dartmouth College and author of The Liberal Conscience: Politics and Principle in a World of Religious Pluralism

‘In this breakthrough book, Bryan McGraw offers a judicious argument for a new integration of religion and politics. Silencing religion as some liberals would do is no less fundamentalist than establishing religion as some Christians have done, he shows. It is far better for modern democracies to foster open toleration and robust engagement of all forms of faith and non-faith that can test and contest each other's policies. It is also far better for modern faith communities to develop an integrated political theology that balances responsible self-rule with reasonable public advocacy - following the example of several nineteenth-century European religious groups. Political historians and political philosophers will learn much from these learned and elegant pages.'

John Witte, Jr - Emory University

'‘Bryan McGraw's Faith in Politics and Anthony Gill's The Political Origins of Religious Liberty provide compelling and original insights on the interaction between religion and politics in modern society … these books provide an excellent introduction to the study of religion and politics. Both works depart from the usual abstract exercises in political theory and focus instead on historically oriented empirical research, to present political science as an empirical discipline. Both are intensely argued, theoretically sophisticated and empirically well supported. They are a delight to read and should be recommended to students of religious studies, political sociology and comparative politics.'

Sarbeswar Sahoo Source: Political Studies Review

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