Product Description

“History must be made to march in the direction of genuine human progress; world affairs have no intrinsic momentum that necessarily results in the victory of decency. Maintaining the morale necessary to achieving progress in history requires us to live our lives, today, against a moral horizon of responsibility that is wider and deeper than the quest for personal satisfactions. The future of our civilization does not rest merely on the advance of material wealth and technological prowess; the future of the West turns on the question of whether our spiritual aspirations are noble or base.”
—from Faith, Reason, and the War Against Jihadism

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #41906 in Books
• Published on: 2007-12-26
• Released on: 2007-12-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 208 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Addressing Islamic terrorism and America's response as a global leader, Catholic commentator Weigel (senior fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center, and author of Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II) argues that [t]he great human questions, including the great questions of public life, are ultimately theological. This short book, comprising 15 lessons in sections entitled Understanding the Enemy, Rethinking Realism and Deserving Victory, covers such topics as key strands of Islamic thought, the dangers of Western appeasement of terrorists and the case for regime change in Iran as well as the development of alternative transportation fuels and the elimination of nuclear weapons. Weigel asserts that jihadism arises not from poverty or the existence of the state of Israel but from Islamic fundamentalism's theological roots. He presents a cogent case that winning the war against terrorism means winning the war of ideas: America must overcome its self-contempt because cultural confidence, he insists, is key. Unsurprisingly, Weigel rejects so-called postmodernist relativism and uncritical multiculturalism; his idea of what constitutes realism—such as President Bush's post 9/11 foreign policy or the existence of objective moral truths—may not be shared by those with different political convictions, but this book contains thought-provoking analysis.
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Review

“This brilliant little book is, quite simply, the best analysis of the role played by religion in what I call World War IV.”
—Norman Podhoretz

“Absolutely masterful: the moral principles, the strategy, and the tactics to win this war for the survival of the West and democracy are all here—coherent and persuasive. Osama bin Laden and Ahmadinejad will hate this little book above all others.”
—R. James Woolsey, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency

“A stirring book: the battle of ideas against Islamist radicalism is now fully joined. George Weigel—a brilliant author with deep knowledge of theology and practical politics—provides a way forward for the western democracies. A badly needed and urgent book.”
—Fouad Ajami, director of the Middle East Studies Program at Johns Hopkins University

“Provocative and exacting, George Weigel wants Americans to think more clearly about the way we live now, and in this unapologetically bracing book he lays out a stark vision of the challenges of our time as he sees them. Whether you agree with Weigel or not, you will want to hear him out, for his is a voice worth taking very seriously indeed.”
—Jon Meacham, author of American Gospel and Franklin and Winston

“Weigel has written one of the most important books since 9/11. It’s a bracing, challenging, and compelling account of the war we are in and which we have to win.”
—William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard


“George Weigel has produced a thoughtful manifesto that wisely calls for bipartisan unity against a foe that threatens all that we cherish.”
—Joe Lieberman, U.S.senator

About the Author

GEORGE WEIGEL, Distinguished Senior Fellow of Washington’s Ethics and Public Policy Center, is a Catholic theologian and one of America’s foremost commentators on issues of religion and public life. A Newsweek contributor and Vatican analyst for NBC News, Weigel is the author of fifteen books, including the New York Times bestseller Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II. His work has been translated into more than a dozen languages.

Customer Reviews

A timely and important read
I am a long time admirer of George Weigel, and have been following many of his insightful articles in "First Things" and "Commentary," and hence I was very excited to get a hold of his latest book "Faith, Reason, and the War Against Jihadism." From his earlier works like "The Cube and the Cathedral" I have come to expect a highly critical and well argued, incisive, prose and this book does not disappoint. The arguments and the prose in this latest book have been streamlined, each one of the points that Weigel is trying to get across gets its own chapter, and the proposed action plan is likewise precisely delineated. The points that Weigel is making are broken down in 15 "lessons" which are:

1. The great human questions, including the great questions of public life, are ultimately theological.
2. To speak of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as "three Abrahamic faiths," "the three religions of the Book," or the "three monotheism" obscures rather than illuminates. These familiar tropes ought to be retired.
3. Jihadims is the enemy in the multifront war that has been declared upon us.
4. Jihadism has a complex intellectual history, the chief points of which must be grasped in order to understand the nature of the threat it poses to the West.
5. Jihadists read history and politics through the prism of their own theological convictions, not through the lens of western assumptions about the progressive dynamic of history.
6. It is not "Islamophobic" to note the historical connection between conquest and Muslim expansion, or between contemporary Jihadism and terrorism. Truth-telling is the essential prerequisite to genuine interreligious dialogue, which can only be based on the claims of reason.
7. The war against jihadism is a contest for human future that will endure for generations.
8. Genuine realism in foreign policy takes wickedness seriously, yet avoids premature closure in its thinking about the possibilities of positive change in world politics.
9. In the war against jihadism, the political objective in the Middle East and throughout the Islamic world is the evolution of responsible and responsive government, which will take different forms given different historical and cultural circumstances.
10. In the war against global jihadism, deterrence strategies are unlikely to be effective, because it is almost impossible to deter those who are committed to their own martyrdom.
11. Cultural self-confidence is indispensible to victory in the long-term struggle against jihadism.
12. Islamist salami tactics must be resisted, for small concessions in the name of a false idea of tolerance inevitable lead to further concessions, and then to further erosion of liberty and society.
13. We cannot, and will not, deserve victory (much less achieve it) if we continue to finance those who attack us. Therefore, a program to defund jihadism by developing alternatives to petroleum-based transportation fuels is a crucial component of the current struggle.
14. Victory in the war against global jihadism requires a new domestic political coalition that is proof against the confusions caused by the Unhinged Left and the Unhinged Right.
15. There is no escape from U.S. leadership.

Insightful review
This book by Wiegel is well-written, clear and most insightful. He outlines ways of looking at the problems that I had not experienced before. We ignore the signs at our own peril.

Superb and timely.
This book was particularly well constructed and arrives a time where it is becoming unthinkable to think. Weigel begins to examine the world in which we live, not from a "post 9/11" standpoint, but from a person who is challenging the world to think about what is happening and look with a greater objectivity to how we can work for a world of true freedom.