Louër, "Shi'ism and Politics in the Middle East"
From Columbia University Press, a new book by Laurence Louër (research fellow at CERI/ SciencesPo in Paris), Shi'ism and Politics in the Middle East (forthcoming May 2012). The publisher's description follows.
Laurence Louër's timely study immediately precedes the recent outbreak of unrest in Bahrain, triggering the escalation of the so-called Arab Spring of 2011. In addition to issues relating to the role of Shiite Islamist movements in regional politics, Louër provides background for the Bahraini conflict and Shiism's wider implications as a political force in the Arab Middle East.
Louër's study depicts Bahrain's troubles as a phenomenon rooted in local perceptions of injustice rather than in the fallout from Shiite Iran's foreign policies. More generally, her work argues that although Iran's Islamic Revolution had an electrifying effect on Shiite movements in Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf, in the end local political imperatives are the crucial driver of developments within Shiite movements—though Lebanon's Hezbollah remains an exception. In addition, the rise of lay activists within Shiite movements across the Middle East and the emergence of Shiite anticlericalism has diminished the overwhelming influence of the Shiite clerical institution. Ultimately, Louër dispells the myth that Iran determines the politics of Iraq, Bahrain, and other Arab states with significant Shiite populations. Her book couldn't be more necessary as revolution continues to spread across the Middle East.
Posted on March 1, 2012 by · 2 Comments
Simon-Shoshan, "Stories of the Law"
This month, Oxford University Press published Stories of the Law: Narrative Discourse and the Construction of Authority in the Mishnah (OUP March 2012) by Moshe Simon-Shoshan (Rothberg International School – Hebrew University). The publisher's description follows.
Moshe Simon-Shoshan offers a groundbreaking study of Jewish law (halakhah) and rabbinic story-telling. Focusing on the Mishnah, the foundational text of halakhah, he argues that narrative was essential in early rabbinic formulations and concepts of law, legal process, and political and religious authority.
The book begins by presenting a theoretical framework for considering the role of narrative in the Mishnah. Drawing on a wide range of disciplines, including narrative theory, Semitic linguistics, and comparative legal studies, Simon-Shoshan shows that law and narrative are inextricably intertwined in the Mishnah. Narrative is central to the way in which the Mishnah transmits law and ideas about jurisprudence. Furthermore, the Mishnah's stories are the locus around which the Mishnah both constructs and critiques its concept of the rabbis as the ultimate arbiters of Jewish law and practice. Read more
Posted on March 1, 2012 by Marc O. DeGirolami
Miller, ed., "Lincoln & Leadership: Military, Political, and Religious Decisionmaking"
Lincoln & Leadership: Military, Political, and Religious Decisionmaking (OUP 2012), edited by Randall M. Miller (St. Joseph's), looks like a very interesting collection of essays, some of which discuss the importance of religious ideas to Lincoln's political outlook. The publisher's description follows.
Lincoln and Leadership offers fresh perspectives on the 16th president-making novel contributions to the scholarship of one of the more studied figures of American history. The book explores Lincoln's leadership through essays focused, respectively, on Lincoln as commander-in-chief, deft political operator, and powerful theologian. Taken together, the essays suggest the interplay of military, political, and religious factors informing Lincoln's thought and action and guiding the dynamics of his leadership. The contributors, all respected scholars of the Civil War era, focus on several critical moments in Lincoln's presidency to understand the ways Lincoln understood and dealt with such issues and concerns as emancipation, military strategy, relations with his generals, the use of black troops, party politics and his own re-election, the morality of the war, the place of America in God's design, and the meaning and obligations of sustaining the Union. Overall, they argue that Lincoln was simultaneously consistent regarding his commitments to freedom, democratic government, and Union but flexible, and sometimes contradictory, in the means to preserve and extend them. They further point to the ways that Lincoln's decision making defined the presidency and recast understandings of American "exceptionalism." They emphasize that the "real" Lincoln was an unabashed party man and shrewd politician, a self-taught commander-in-chief, and a deeply religious man who was self-confident in his ability to judge men and to persuade them with words but unsure of what God demanded from America for its collective sins of slavery. Randall Miller's Introduction in particular provides essential weight to the notion that Lincoln's presidential leadership must be seen as a series of interlocking stories. In the end, the contributors collectively remind readers that the Lincoln enshrined as the "Great Emancipator" and "savior of the Union" was in life and practice a work-in-progress. And they insist that "getting right with Lincoln" requires seeing the intersections of his-and America's-military, political, and religious interests and identities.
Posted on March 1, 2012 March 1, 2012 by Marc O. DeGirolami
Second Circuit Upholds Preliminary Injunction Against the City — All Religious Groups Included
This reports states that Wednesday the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Judge Preska's preliminary injunction against the New York City Department of Education, preventing the City from excluding all groups (and not only Bronx Household of Faith) that engage in religious worship from using public school facilities after hours on equal terms with other groups. I have not been able to locate the order, so it is not clear to me how the reporter is getting the June end-date. For previous discussion of this issue, see here, here, and here.
If someone has access to the order, please let me know.
UPDATE: According to this report, the source of the June time-frame is this sentence in the Second Circuit's order: "We hope and expect that the district court will render its conclusive, final judgment as soon as practicable, and no later than mid-June, so that the dispute can perhaps be concluded by the beginning of the next school term."
Senate Tables Conscience Amendment
The Senate earlier today debated an amendment to a transportation bill introduced by Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri which would allow a religious employer to opt out of any health care decision for any religious reason of conscience. The amendment was quite broad in scope, and it was tabled by a vote of 51-48.
Posted on March 1, 2012 by Kevin C. Walsh
The Catholic Bishops in the Roberts Court: Track Record as Amicus Curiae
In the first six years of the Roberts Court (OT05-OT10), the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops filed seven amicus curiae briefs. Four dealt with religious liberty (Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao de Vegetal, CLS v. Martinez, Arizona School Tuition Organization v. Winn, and Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC), two addressed abortion (Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood and Gonzales v. Carhart), and one dealt with assisted suicide (Gonzales v. Oregon). The table below compares the Justices by whether they voted for the same party supported by the Bishops' Conference as amicus curiae.
Justice Name
Agreement with Bishops' Conference as Percentage of Cases
Agreement with Bishops' Conference as Fraction of Cases
Chief Justice Roberts (Catholic)
Justice Scalia (Catholic)
Justice Thomas (Catholic)
Justice Alito (Catholic)
Justice Kennedy (Catholic)
Justice Stevens
Justice Souter
Justice O'Connor
Justice Ginsburg
Justice Breyer
Justice Sotomayor (Catholic)
Justice Kagan
These statistics reveal a stark division between the Catholic and the non-Catholic Justices, a division that is likely to shape up more and more as one between the Republican appointees (all Catholic) and the Democratic appointees (one of whom is Catholic). The three cases in which the party supported by the Bishops' Conference garnered the votes of the non-Catholic Justices were all unanimous decisions (Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC, Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao de Vegetal, and Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood). The party supported by the Bishops' Conference did not attract the votes of a single non-Catholic Justice in any split decision.
As noted in connection with the earlier chart showing the same measure in the Rehnquist Court, the point of this measurement is not to demonstrate influence, but rather to define the universe of cases in which the Bishops have an interest in the outcome and to see how hospitable various Justices have been to the claims advanced by the parties supported by the Bishops' Conference amicus curiae briefs.