Does Islam Need a Luther or a Pope?
Posted by SJackson
On 12/04/2003 8:27:57 AM EST with 66 comments
TCS ^ | 12-5-03 | EDWARD FESER
It has become the conventional wisdom in the two years since 9/11 that the trouble with Islam is that, unlike Christianity, it never had a Protestant Reformation. The idea seems to be this: Christianity was (so it is held) rigid and authoritarian before Luther and company came along and paved the way for liberal democracy, science, and all things modern and good; Islam's problem is that it remains stuck in its "Medieval phase," still awaiting Reformers of its own. This analysis dovetails nicely with the conceptions most people have these days of the Reformation, of traditional Catholicism, and of...Posted by rob777
On 12/22/2001 11:53:08 AM EST with 262 comments
Lew Rockwell.com ^ | December 22nd 2001 | Edward Feser
The notion that the political alliance between libertarians and conservatives is contingent and inherently unstable has become a cliché, and a tiresome one at that, usually made by persons who have little understanding of either libertarianism or conservatism. And despite appearances, the recent testy exchanges between the conservative National Review’s Jonah Goldberg and the libertarian Reason magazine’s Nick Gillespie and Virginia Postrel do nothing to confirm the cliché.It is not that the idea of a fusion of libertarianism and conservatism does not raise important and difficult philosophical issues; it does. The emphasis within traditional conservative thinking on authority, including the ...Edward Feser: The Mustache on the Left [about delusion that right-wingers are closet totalitarians]
Posted by Tolik
On 01/08/2004 8:19:28 AM EST with 27 comments
TechCentralStation ^ | 01/08/2004 | Edward Feser
As a Bush re-election later this year looks increasingly likely, some left-wingers worry that Howard Dean is too risky a candidate to put up against a popular President. There is, of course, the obvious comparison to McGovern and the fear that a true believer may inevitably be a sure loser. There is also the worry that Dean may not in fact be so true a believer in the first place: he did support Newt Gingrich's Medicare reforms, after all, and has been a little too cozy with gun rights advocates; might he not betray the Left in order to appeal...