cover image Dangerous Religious Ideas: The Deep Roots of Self-Critical Faith in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Dangerous Religious Ideas: The Deep Roots of Self-Critical Faith in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Rachel S. Mikva. Beacon, $28 (288p) ISBN 978-0-80705-187-0

Rabbi Mikva (Midrash VaYosha), professor at Chicago Theological Seminary, argues in this excellent analysis that, though “all religious ideas are dangerous,” those same ideas can provoke acts of compassion, generosity, and justice. The difference between antagonism and compassion, Mikva suggests, depends on how ideas are interpreted and applied in the context of everyday life. To make her case, Mikva reveals how Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions have wrestled with concepts such as chosenness, election, reward, and punishment in ways both beneficial and brutal. For instance, each religion takes “the concept of reward and punishment” portrayed on “the divine plane” to create a “parallel system of human justice”: Israel imitated their God with a system “punishing measure for measure”; Christianity “promises the kingdom of God to those who provide support for people in need, and age-long punishment to those who do not”; and the Koran “attaches eternal consequences to divine judgment.” With a particular focus on the textual sources of each tradition—Torah, New Testament, and Qur’an—Mikva illustrates how religious ideas can be used to include or exclude, enslave or liberate, and inspire hate for the supposed religious “other.” Unfortunately, Mikva’s focus on Abrahamic religions leaves out insights from Hindu, Buddhist, and indigenous traditions. This cogent work provides a promising platform for interreligious engagement, particularly for interfaith academics. [em](Nov.) [/em]