Allies (Fall 2019) | Boston Review

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Religion

Gender & Sexuality

Secularism’s Saints

Two recent books about Mormon women highlight the success of the church in redefining itself as a modern liberal religion. But to become that, the Latter-day Saints dramatically reworked both their theology and history.

Peter Coviello

Class & Inequality, Philosophy & Religion

Bad Romance

Capitalism hasn’t disenchanted the world, a new book argues. Like a bad lover, it beguiles us into spiritual desolation—and only the most utopian politics will break its spell.

James G. Chappel

Philosophy & Religion

Can Christian Democracy Save Us?

The political philosophy embraced by Germany’s leading party helped reunite Europe after World War II. Can it guide us safely away from today’s populism—or did it cause it?

Udi Greenberg

Philosophy & Religion

The Gospel of Oil

Oil’s grip on U.S. society is as much religious as economic, a new history shows.

Kim Phillips-Fein

Philosophy & Religion

The Pacifist Roots of an American Nazi

Ingrid Rimland was a pioneering voice of the neo-Nazi Internet. She was also raised Mennonite, a peaceful religion with a long history of celebrating white “ethnic” identity.

Ben Goossen

Philosophy & Religion

Democracy Without God

In a new book, philosopher Martin Hägglund argues that only atheists are truly committed to improving our world. But people of faith and socialists have more in common than he thinks.

James G. Chappel

Race

The Missing Malcolm X

Our understanding of Malcolm X is inextricably linked to his autobiography, but newly discovered materials force us to reexamine his legacy. 

Garrett Felber

Politics

Jews in Britain Are Not Facing an Existential Threat

But it is increasingly difficult to question Israel’s policies without accusations of anti-Semitism.

David R. K. Adler

Philosophy & Religion

When Catholicism Embraced Modernity

In the mid-twentieth century, the Church radically changed its position on whether religion is a public or private matter.

Sarah Shortall

Politics

Erdogan’s Ottomania

In a bid to consolidate power, Erdoğan is reshaping Turkish politics in the image of the Ottoman past.

M. Hakan Yavuz

Law & Justice, Politics

The Border President

Trump v. Hawaii is not about religion. It’s about the president’s unlimited power at the border.

Elizabeth Shakman Hurd

Philosophy & Religion

Is Germany’s New Anti-Semitism Really New?

The focus on Muslim anti-Semitism obscures the real quandary of multiculturalism in Angela Merkel’s Germany.

Carlos Fraenkel

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