Tuesday, December 18, 2007

I am presently reading an advance copy of George Weigel's -- as also, it appears, Jay Anderson and Gerald Augustinus (no doubt this will confirm Vox Nova's worst fears about an organized Catholic neocon conspiracy). ;-)

As it is nearing Christmas, I intend to blog my thoughts on Weigel's proposals in the New Year and look forward to what I'm sure will be an engaging discussion with my readers.

In the meantime, here's the publisher's info:

More than half a decade after 9/11, safe passage through a moment of history fraught with both peril and possibility requires Americans across the political spectrum to see things as they are.

In this incisive, engaging study of the present danger and what we must do to prevail against it, George Weigel, one of America’s foremost public intellectuals, does precisely that: he sees, and describes, things as they are—and as they might be. Drawing on a quarter century of experience at the intersection of moral argument and public policy, he describes rigorously and clearly the threat posed by global jihadism: the religiously inspired ideology which teaches that it is the moral obligation of all Muslims to employ whatever means are necessary to compel the world’s submission to Islam. Exploring that ideology’s theological, social, cultural, and political roots, Weigel points a new direction for both public policy and interreligious dialogue, one that meets the challenge of jihadism forthrightly while creating the conditions for a less threatening, more mutually enriching encounter between Islam and the West.

Essential reading in a time of momentous political decisions, Faith, Reason, and the War Against Jihadism is a clarion call for a new seriousness of debate and a new clarity of purpose in American public life.

The book has garnered high praise from Norman Podhoretz (Commentary), William Kristol (Weekly Standard), R. James Woolsey (former director of the CIA), Fouad Ajami (Middle East Studies author), and Senator Joseph Leiberman.

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Lest you're wondering, I'm also reading Pope Benedict XVI's Spe Salvi (in between naps, as is the tendency these days), and will blog my (meager) thoughts in January.

Labels: books, neocons

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Against The Grain is the personal blog of Christopher Blosser - web designer and all around maintenance guy for the original Cardinal Ratzinger Fan Club (Now Pope Benedict XVI).