Join Wisdom of Crowds and Aspen Philosophy & Society on October 8th, 7pm at Reynold’s Bar for the Washington, DC launch of Shadi Hamid and Matthew Kaemingk’s new book Can Religion Save Democracy? How More Faith—Not Less—Can Heal Our Public Life featuring a live taping and conversation between Shadi, Matthew and New York Times contributing columnist Christine Emba.
Grab your free tickets here.
In Can Religion Save Democracy?, two friends and colleagues — an Evangelical theologian and a Muslim political scientist — make a bold case: If American democracy is going to survive, it will require more religion, not less. Drawing on wisdom from their respective religious traditions, they explore why secularism has deepened our divides and how ancient insights from Christianity and Islam can strengthen our common life. The book has received early praise from David Brooks: “This book is original and profound. Hamid and Kaemingk take the wisdom from two great religious traditions and use it to bend your mind—especially if you happen to be secular.”
Come for drinks, food, friends, and a conversation about one of the most important questions facing America today: what role, if any, should religion play in our public life?
Pre-order your copy of Can Religion Save Democracy on Amazon here or at a 40% discount at the link below and get a free 3-month paid subscription to Wisdom of Crowds (Message Shadi Hamid on Substack with your proof of purchase). Copies will also be available for purchase at the event.
Shadi Hamid is a columnist at The Washington Post and a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, where he co-directs The Faith and Future of Democracy Initiative. From 2023 to 2024, he served on the Post’s editorial board. Hamid is the author of several books, including The Case for American Power and Islamic Exceptionalism, which was shortlisted for the 2017 Lionel Gelber Prize for the best nonfiction book on foreign affairs. In 2019, he was named one of the world’s top fifty thinkers by Prospect magazine. Hamid lives in Washington, DC.
Matthew Kaemingk is a Christian ethicist and public theologian. He serves as Professor of Public Theology at Theological University Utrecht and Senior Fellow at Georgetown University, where he co-directs The Faith and Future of Democracy Initiative. Kaemingk is an award-winning author and frequent public speaker for universities, think tanks, and religious organizations interested in exploring the intersection between religion, politics, and deep difference. He is the author and editor of several books on faith and public life including Christian Hospitality and Muslim Immigration in an Age of Fear and Reformed Public Theology. Kaemingk is a Fulbright scholar and holds a doctoral degree in Systematic Theology from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and Christian Ethics from Fuller Theological Seminary.
Christine Emba is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where her work focuses on gender and sexuality, feminism, masculinity, youth culture, and social norms. She is a contributing columnist at The New York Times and a senior fellow at the Georgetown University Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life. Emba was previously a staff writer at The Atlantic, a columnist and editor at The Washington Post, a Hilton Kramer Fellow in Criticism at The New Criterion, and a deputy editor at the Economist Intelligence Unit. She was named one of the world’s top 50 thinkers by Prospect magazine in 2022 and received the National Press Club’s Nell Minow Award for Cultural Criticism in 2024. An editor-at-large at Wisdom of Crowds, Emba is the author of Rethinking Sex: A Provocation.
Very sad I have to miss this, if only because I now have no use for my large "no, religion cannot save democracy" placard-sign ;)
Best of luck with the book launch! I can’t pre-order it, but once it’s published I will take a look around and see if there’s some website or other, willing to ship a copy to my part of the world.