"Whether we start from the pandemic, climate change, the inequality engendered by capitalism, the violence of racism and sexism, or any of a number of global crises, it is apparent that we are far from any idea of a common world, a world that is a site of belonging. Such a world would require a fundamental transformation of how we understand value--that everyone's life has value beyond market value and that the world is structured to facilitate everyone's flourishing. Such a world requires, too, the upending and reorientation of everyone's epistemic field, one's very sense of the limit and structure of the world, in order to apprehend the worlds of others and to find connection. Judith Butler draws, surprisingly, on Wittgenstein's sense that the world can be revealed as different than it was-precisely what the pandemic brought about. But what kind of world is it? Phenomenologist Max Scheler would say that it is a world that exhibits itself through its very breath as tragic. And how are we to live in this world? Critically, it must be inhabitable, and here is found the limit of personal freedom, which carried to its extreme makes the world unlivable both for others and for oneself. The world must also be tangible. As Merleau-Ponty describes it, touch is a characteristic of the world rather than a power that we have. We are bodies within a field of interrelated bodies--which has ethical and political consequences, moving beyond an ontology of individuals to an ontology of the world around us. We are asked to accept a vision of an interconnected world in which our breath is shared with others. Can we reimagine what we mean by social equality and inequality in the context of bodily interdependency? We have seen how the natural world begins to restore itself during the restrictions implemented during the pandemic; we have also seen the differential health results due to environmental racism. Together, they suggest that we have an obligation to reorder the world on principles of radical equality. Finally, an inhabitable world is a world where everyone desires to live. To want to live in such a world is to take up the struggle against the conditions that make it impossible for so many. "None of us can accept a world in which some people are protected while others are not," as WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus puts it. Intersubjectivity enmeshes us in the power relations of race, gender, class, and sexuality as they are reproduced, naturalized, and contested in bodies within the complementary crises of pandemic, climate, and systemic racism and sexism. Ultimately, what movements like Black Lives Matter and Ni Una Menos stand for is that all lives are worthy of care and all lives are equally grievable"--

Religious faith is under assault. In books, movies, and on television, secular critics are attacking religion and the religious with ever-increasing intensity. These "new atheists" typically repeat a two-part mantra: They claim that only an idiot could believe in God, and that idiots who do so have been responsible for most of the hate and violence that have plagued humanity. Abandon religion, they urge, and the world will finally know peace. Surprisingly few books have emerged to defend faith from this onslaught. Yet when it comes to this second argument--the behavior of religious people in the world--abstract claims can be tested by reference to objective facts. In Defense of Faith examines the historical record and demonstrates that far from encouraging hate and aggression, the Judeo-Christian tradition has been the West's most effective curb on these dangerous defects of human nature. In Defense of Faith asserts that the belief in the sanctity and equality of all humans at the core of both Judaism and Christianity--what Brog calls the "Judeo-Christian idea"--has been our most effective tool in the struggle for humanity. The Judeo-Christian idea, Brog argues, has provided the intellectual foundation for human rights. Even more importantly, he maintains, the Judeo-Christian idea has repeatedly inspired the faithful to devote their lives to, and often risk their lives in, the fulfillment of these high ideals. In Defense of Faith also convincingly demonstrates that when we abandon religion as the critics urge, peace does not break out. Instead, we quickly revert to the most base instincts of our selfish genes. Written by a Jewish author who works closely with the Christian faith community, In Defense of Faith will appeal to secular and religious readers alike. This book will challenge the secular to reconsider the role of religion in Western civilization. It will inspire the religious to embrace a proud legacy of faith in action for the sake of humanity.