The New Religious Intolerance: Overcoming the Politics of Fear in an Anxious Age - Softcover

Martha C. Nussbaum is Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, appointed in the Law School and the Philosophy Department. Among her many awards are the 2018 Berggruen Prize, the 2017 Don M. Randel Award for Humanistic Studies from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the 2016 Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy.

“Martha Nussbaum eloquently speaks for, and continues, this tradition [of liberality] in her book The New Religious Intolerance. She pleads for the use of our ‘inner eyes,’ for that ‘curious and sympathetic imagination’ that is adept at ‘recognizing humanity in strange costumes.’ Like Trilling, she illustrates this liberal imagination with works of literature―in her case ranging from Lessing’s Nathan the Wise all the way to the children’s books of Marguerite de Angeli. We can’t all be novelists or poets, but some of their imaginative skills are essential if we are to combine the stern, singular legal and political requirements of equal freedom with the baggy, polyphonous reality of social and cultural diversity.”―Timothy Garton Ash, New York Review of Books

“The New Religious Intolerance is a vigorous defense of the religious freedom of minorities in the face of post-9/11 Islamophobia.”―Giles Fraser, The Guardian

“Nussbaum is one of America’s leading liberal thinkers. In The New Religious Intolerance, she turns her attention to the rise of antireligious―and specifically anti-Muslim―zealotry since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.”―Damon Linker, New York Times Book Review

“The recent brouhaha over a proposed Muslim cultural center in lower Manhattan provides a case study for philosopher Martha Nussbaum to explore American bias against Muslims―how religious bigotry works, what fuels it, and how it can warp our personal and policy decisions... Lucid and forceful, Nussbaum marshals the masters of moral philosophy―primarily Locke and Kant―as well as a host of literary and historical voices to propose an approach to religious difference that honors both difference and our shared humanity. This is a plainspoken but profound and even challenging book.”―Kate Tuttle, Boston Globe

“Martha Nussbaum continues her critical reflection on the ways in which a democratic society can practice justice and provide well-being for all its members. As we have come to expect, she compellingly combines erudite critical analysis with intense moral passion... Her acute analysis of social fear carries her all the way back to Aristotle, who pondered how people can manufacture fear by imagining that a threat is close at hand... Nussbaum summons us not to abdicate responsibility in the face of programmed hysteria. Important steps can be taken to counter such amorphous anxiety, but those steps require resolve, imagination and engagement. Nussbaum’s appeal is not only to government policy makers but also to religious types who have responsibility for nurturing sympathetic imagination and for disciplining the inner eye.”―Walter Brueggemann, Christian Century

“Martha Nussbaum seeks to explain how politics in Western countries, especially in America and Europe, is increasingly shaped by Islamophobia... She shows deep concern over the growing decline of religious tolerance, undue haste to promulgate laws that perpetuate stereotypes about culture and religious practices, and unwarranted political campaigns and referendum generating enormous anxieties and mistrust about Muslims all over the world... This is an extraordinary piece of scholarship that deploys intellectual resources of various disciplines, and addresses perhaps some of the most vital questions of our time regarding citizenship, freedom of religion, multiculturalism, and issues of interfaith relationship. Without doubt, scholars of all major disciplines will find this book indispensable in their understanding of the modern world and the challenges that it faces today.”―Mujibur Rehman, The Hindu

“The value of this book is...in the meticulous way it charts an ethical path through the maze of laws and legal judgments governing the exercise of religion in the West.”―Malise Ruthven, International Affairs

“[Nussbaum] makes an insightful contribution on the widening spread of prejudice in the West. It singles out Western intolerance directed against Muslims.”―Mowahid Hussain Shah, The Nation (Pakistan)

“Martha Nussbaum is a professor of law and ethics. In this short and beautifully argued book, she brings the two disciplines together as she focuses on the wave of Islamophobia that is sweeping across America and Europe... [The New Religious Intolerance] should be required reading for those who have to adjudicate on questions of civic conformity and religious dissent.”―Nicholas Sagovsky, The Tablet

“The New Religious Intolerance: Overcoming the Politics of Fear in an Anxious Age is an excellent book that deserves a wide readership. Nussbaum has provided liberal societies with a road map out of fear into a more inclusive society, and she has put us all―Muslims and non-Muslims―in her debt... Nussbaum writes in accessible, engaging language, and contemporary examples drawn from films such as Fatal Attraction and Invasion of the Body Snatchers ensure that a general readership will feel involved in her scholarly analysis of how fear of Muslims is being deliberately manufactured in our societies.”―Maleiha Malik, Times Higher Education