Is tolerance an achievement of secular modernity that religion has always resisted? The Concept of Tolerance in Judaism, Christianity and Islam (De Gruyter, 2026), the seventh volume in the Key Concepts in Interreligious Discourses series, says the answer is more complicated. Edited by Catharina Rachik and Georges Tamer of FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg, the book gives one substantial chapter to each tradition and closes with an epilogue in which the editors compare the three.

Menachem Kellner draws on Maimonides to build a Jewish account of tolerance grounded in epistemological humility. The Torah is true, but no human mind, not even Moses’s, grasps that truth completely. Christian Polke treats tolerance as a virtue practiced in the habits of a community, especially in the confession of sin and in reading scripture critically. Anna Akasoy declines to ask whether Islam is “essentially” tolerant or intolerant. She asks instead why that question keeps being put to Islam, and then traces how Muslims have handled difference across scripture, law, theology, Sufism, and political rule.

In this conversation, Tamer and Rachik discuss the series’ “archaeology of religious knowledge.” They explain why “tolerance” works as an analytical category rather than a historical one, and why the limits of tolerance require public justification. Finally, they argue that naming irreconcilable differences gives interreligious life a sturdier foundation than a manufactured consensus. Taking a cue from Goethe, they make the case for moving beyond tolerance toward recognition.

Iqbal Akhtar teaches in the Departments of Religious Studies and Politics & International Relations at Florida International University and is the Executive Director of The East-West Foundation. He is the author of Covenantal Pluralism: The Geopolitics of Interfaith Religious Freedom (Springer, 2026), available open access at this link.

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Today I’m speaking with Peter N. Miller, historian and president of the American Academy in Rome, about his new book, Research: A Manifesto (Princeton University Press, 2026). Globally, we spend around $3 trillion dollars a year on research, roughly 2% of global GDP. This activity is the source of many breakthroughs and innovations, not only in the sciences but in all domains of life. Without research, we wouldn’t have as detailed an understanding of past events or cures to once-deadly diseases. Research, however, is also a source of skepticism and suspicion. The activity conjures fears of viral lab leaks, misaligned artificial intelligence, deadly weapons of war, and wasting of taxpayer money. Research: A Manifesto presents a history of the idea and activity of research to demystify a process that despite being so prevalent is so little understood. Research is at the heart of our contemporary world, inextricably tied to the forces that drive society. Peter’s research on research is thus invaluable today.

Caleb Zakarin is CEO and Publisher of the New Books Network.

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From the inside flap:

“

In this lucid and inventive work, Ian Buchanan argues that the pivotal concepts ‘assemblage’ and ‘affect,’ which were separated at birth, need to be reunited. Indeed, it is only by bringing them back together that we can fully understand their meaning. of Assemblage Theory and Affect (Bloomsbury, 2026) proposes three agenda-setting arguments:

1. Affect is a function of desire—its powers are the powers we attribute to desire. As such, like desire it should be considered a psychical agency. The assemblage, the body without organs and the abstract machine are all components of this psychical agency.

2. Affect is a capacitating power—it empowers us to meet life. Affect is not the measure of our response to a given stimulus, it is rather the capacity we have to respond to a stimulus in the way that we do. This is the essential argument of Deleuze and Guattari’s schizoanalytic project which is a kind of survivor’s guide to late capitalism.

3. The capacitating power of affect depends upon the combinations of bodies without organs and abstract machines that we have been able to put together by means of the assemblages available to us. This is what Deleuze means by an ethics of desire.

”

Nathan Smith is a PhD candidate in Music Theory at Yale University

nathan.smith@yale.edu

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Why do people read? In The Love of Books: Attachment to a Changing Cultural Object (Manchester University Press, 2026) María Angélica Thumala Olave, a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Edinburgh’s School of Social and Political Science, explores people’s relationship to books and to reading, demonstrating the pleasure and importance books provide in contemporary life. Moving beyond a narrow focus on the social status offered by books and reading, the analysis shows the role of material objects, along with the emotional engagements and social bonds forged by the practices associated with books and reading.

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Between Fixed and Fickle: Why Our Moral Views Keep Changing (Harvard UP, 2026), a psychologist explains why—and how—moral views change across different life stages, situations, and historical eras.

We like to believe that moral truths are obvious and unchangeable: cheating is wrong, killing is wrong, slavery is wrong. Yet people have often cheated, killed, and enslaved without regret. The acts that feel glaringly wrong to us in the here and now can seem fine to someone who is younger, or faces different circumstances, or lived a century ago.

Why does morality appear so unstable? The popular explanation is that emotions, self-interest, and social pressure easily divert people from moral concerns because they lack sincere moral commitment. But the evidence shows otherwise. Drawing on studies of young children, adolescents, and adults, Audun Dahl argues that human morality is neither immutable nor capricious, neither fixed nor fickle. Rather, people change their moral views when they believe they have good reasons to—reasons that they can articulate to themselves and would endorse for others.

The science of moral change cannot resolve our ethical dilemmas: it does not tell us what’s morally right or wrong. But it can help us understand why we have moral views in the first place, why those views keep changing, and why moral views that seem obvious to us aren’t obvious to everyone else. Separating moral psychology from moralizing, Between Fixed and Fickle reveals what’s behind our changing agreements and disagreements as we travel toward shared and hard-won moral truths.

Host: Renee Garfinkel

Guest: Audun Dahl

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Are you a scholar sitting on a manuscript that you think could be a book — but you have no idea where to start? In this episode of The Publishing Playbook, host Sarah Russo sits down with Laura Portwood-Stacer, founder of Manuscript Works and author of two books about academic publishing: “The Book Proposal Book” and “Make Your Manuscript Work.” Laura shares what pulled her out of academia and into editorial consulting, and why “publish or perish” no longer guarantees the payoff it once promised. She breaks down the essential elements of a strong academic book proposal, the real differences between the types of publishers out there, and why authors and editors are on the same team more often than they realize. Laura also dishes on whether academic authors actually need a literary agent, and how generative AI is reshaping trust in publishing. Plus: what it was really like competing on “Jeopardy!”

For more information on Laura’s work, please visit Manuscript Works.

Books mentioned in this episode:

“The Book Proposal Book” by Laura Portwood-Stacer

“Make Your Manuscript Work” by Laura Portwood-Stacer

“Trans Technologies” by Oliver Haimson (both Laura and the Page One team worked with Oliver on his book)

“The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World” by Bettany Hughes

Key Moments

00:00 – “That’s Not the Answer” 😤
Laura names the fantasy that finishing a book will magically change your life, and why that unrealistic expectation sets writers up for disappointment.

03:25 – “Publish or Perish” Isn't So Simple Anymore 📚
Laura explains why the old academic career formula has broken down: you can do everything right and still lose the job, the promotion, or the department.

07:12 - The Anatomy of a Strong Book Proposal 📝
Laura walks through exactly what publishers are looking for, breaking down the unspoken checklist most scholars never see.

10:40 – “You’re on the Same Team” 🤝
Laura pushes back on the idea that authors and editors are adversaries, arguing most writers misunderstand just how aligned they actually are with their publisher.

16:37 - Trade, Academic Trade, or Monograph? 🎯
Sarah and Laura unpack the three buckets publishers sort academic books into, and why so many authors overestimate how “trade” their book really is.

20:33 - Do You Actually Need an Agent? 🙋
Laura levels with authors chasing representation: most scholars publishing with university or academic presses don’t need one at all.

21:13 - AI Has Made Everyone a “Paranoid Reader” 🤖
Laura gets candid about how generative AI is eroding trust between editors and authors — and why she resents having become an accidental AI expert.

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Can philanthropy be an anti-racist, feminist, relational, and joyful expression of solidarity? This book argues that it not only can be for the future we seek and for philanthropy to achieve its greatest impact, but it must be.

Nationally recognized philanthropic leader Dimple Abichandani revolutionizes the precepts of modern philanthropy. Offering 10 provocative practice shifts, A New Era of Philanthropy: Ten Practices to Transform Wealth into a More Just and Sustainable Future (North Atlantic Books, 2025) engages readers with fresh answers to the question of how philanthropy can meet this high-stakes moment. This book picks up where key books like Decolonizing Wealth and Winners Take All leave off, offering a guide for donors, foundations, and non-profit leaders navigating philanthropy in urgent times. Clear-eyed, hopeful, and responsive to the moment, this book helps us reimagine the purpose and norms of modern philanthropy. It is an invitation to all of us who believe these resources can contribute to a more just future: start here.

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South Asia Before Religion: Reflections on an Anachronistic Concept (Knowledge Commons Works, 2026) critically examines the applicability of the concept of religion to premodern South Asian culture. I argue that premodern South Asia did not possess a concept equivalent to religion as understood today – neither as a distinct system of religious teachings and practices, nor as a fundamental cultural category separate from non-religious domains such as the secular, philosophy, or science. Using Āyurveda and philosophy as examples, I show that imposing anachronistic categories on past cultures risks misrepresenting their inner logics and social realities. I advocate deconstructing modern notions of religion and refraining from reconstructing the past with religion as a template. However, concepts of religion can serve a purpose when used as historicized objects of comparison or reference for premodern concepts and systems, in order to facilitate access to premodern cultures and contribute effectively to contemporary discourses.

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/big-ideas

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