Dissent on Core Beliefs

Difference, diversity and disagreement are inevitable features of our ethical, social and political landscape. This collection of new essays investigates the ways that various ethical and religious traditions have dealt with intramural dissent; the volume covers nine separate traditions: Confucianism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, liberalism, Marxism, South Asian religions and natural law. Each chapter lays out the distinctive features, history and challenges of intramural dissent within each tradition, enabling readers to identify similarities and differences between traditions. The book concludes with an Afterword by Michael Walzer, offering a synoptic overview of the challenge of intramural dissent and the responses to that challenge. Committed to dialogue across cultures and traditions, the collection begins that dialogue with the common challenges facing all traditions: how to maintain cohesion and core values in the face of pluralism, and how to do this in a way that is consistent with the internal ethical principles of the traditions.

This study compares the ways in which nine different ethical and religious traditions manage dissent on core beliefs, and is of interest to upper-level students, graduate students and researchers in theological ethics, religious studies, comparative ethics, political theory and philosophy of religion.

1. Introduction Simone Chambers and Peter Nosco; 2. Liberalism and internal dissent William A. Galston; 3. Intramural dissent: Marxism Andrew Levine; 4. Dissent on core beliefs in natural law Tom Angier; 5. The management of intramural dissent in Judaism Alan Mittleman; 6. Christianity and the management of intramural dissent Peter Steinfels; 7. Intramural dissent on core beliefs in Islam Meena Sharify-Funk; 8. Dissent and diversity in South Asian religions Anne Murphy; 9. Confucianism and dissent on core beliefs Richard Madsen; 10. Intramural dissent in Buddhism Peter Nosco; 11. Afterword Michael Walzer; Select bibliography; Index.