Ancient Religions, Modern Politics

Michael Cook is among the most eminent and original scholars of Islam alive. The 2014 award of the Holberg Prize—often described as the Nobel Prize for the arts, humanities, law, and theology—testifies to his stature. His latest book, Ancient Religions, Modern Politics, will not disappoint his admirers. It is profoundly erudite, written with exceptional clarity, and laced with mordant wit. Cook's goal in the book is to compare, in his words, the role of religious tradition to modern political identity, the contribution of religious heritage to contemporary political values, and the possible recourse within religious tradition to fundamentalism. Cook's argument is that contemporary Islam plays an altogether different and more potent role in politics than does Catholicism or Hinduism. He describes a religious identity that has increasingly challenged ethnic and national identity among Muslims in ways that are not true either for Hindus or for Latin American Catholics. Along with identity, religion also plays a role in the elaboration of social values. Cook proposes that Islam has an image of an ideal polity but not of an ideal society. This is so partly because Islam entered a world with no polity but an already existing society. Consequently, the basic texts and tenets of Islam place a value on the equality of free male believers but not on the elimination of social or economic hierarchy. Islam thus rejects despotism and embraces the rule of law but not necessarily the redistribution of property.

Aesthetics · Identity (music) · Islam · Islamic studies · Political science · Politics · Polity · Sociology · Theology · Education and Islamic Studies · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious studies

• Ideology, organisation, and path dependency

  Open Access•Bruno Schmidt-Feuerheerd•Politics•2025

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