Monotheism, Intolerance, and the Path to Pluralistic Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2021)

​Discussions of monotheism often consider its bigotry toward other gods as a source of conflict, or emphasize its universality as a source of peaceful tolerance. Both approaches, however, ignore the combined danger and liberation in monotheism's 'intolerance.' In this volume, Christopher Haw reframes this important argument. He demonstrates the value of rejecting paradigms of inclusivity in favor of an agonistic pluralism and intolerance of absolutism. Haw proposes a model that retains liberal, pluralistic principles while acknowledging their limitations, and he relates them to theologies latent in political ideas. His volume offers a nuanced, evolutionary, and historical understanding of the biblical tradition's emergence and its political consequences with respect to violence. It suggests how we can mediate impasses between liberal and conservative views in culture wars; between liberal inclusivity and conservative decisionism; and, on the religious front, between apologetics for exclusive monotheism and critiques of its intolerance.
"In this brilliantly argued book, Chris Haw moves us beyond stale attacks on--and defenses of--monotheism, showing that the biblical exclusivity is both potentially violent and potentially liberating in its separation of God from the political powers that be.  Through a nuanced re-reading of ancient history and modern theory, Haw points the way forward to a politics beyond sovereignty and uniformity."

Dr. William T. Cavanaugh, DePaul University, Chicago
Working out the manifold implications of René Girard’s biblical anthropology, Chris Haw breaks new ground where he integrates the foundational research in ancient Near East culture of the eminent Egyptologist Jan Assman and Chantal Mouffe’s internal critique of modern liberal democracy. He challenges us to rethink what we understand by covenant, idolatry, myth, hegemony and consensus, and much more besides.  As a result, our commonplace notions of Israel’s monotheistic revolution are on reset, as are the embroiled relations between religion and politics.  

Dr. Andrew McKenna, Professor Emeritus, Loyola University of Chicago
In his wide-ranging and deeply illuminative study, Christopher Haw boldly confronts the paradoxes surrounding intolerance today both within monotheistic religious faiths and within the pluralistic societies in which such traditionally exclusive faiths are often immersed. Taking up monotheism’s rigid distinctions between true and false, the righteous and the wicked, Haw demonstrates how the true path to non-dualistic thinking lies not in removing dualities, but in seeing them differently, thereby suspending their potential for violence. If, as he claims, repentance is ‘scapegoating in reverse’, then the sacramental nature of our world is perceivable anew through a theological lens which does not simply enforce strict dualisms, but sees God’s very body as itself divided. Not only does this view offer humanity another way to envision the legacy of monotheism, but it also ends the divinization of politics as we know it.’
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Dr. Colby Dickinson,
​Professor of Theology, Loyola University of Chicago
“Christopher Haw’s apologia for monotheism provides a long overdue dialogue between René Girard’s mimetic theory and Jan Assmann’s political theory of polytheism. By building up on the best of both these two approaches he arrives at a deeper understanding of monotheism’s relation with violence. Relating this profound piece of political theology to the work of political theorist Chantal Mouffe opens a new perspective for a pluralistically open liberalism.”
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Dr. Wolfgang Palaver, Universität Innsbruck​
Chapter Outline
Introduction: Monotheism and Pluralism; Introducing René Girard, Jan Assmann, and Chantal Mouffe
Chapter 1: Pluralism’s Requisite Intolerance
Chapter 2: Girard’s Mimetic Theory and Monotheism’s Ambivalent Effects
Chapter 3: Monotheism and the Monopoly on Violence: Freud and Girard
Chapter 4: Containing Violence and Two Entirely Different Kinds of Religion
Chapter 5: Polytheism and the Victim in Ancient Egypt
Chapter 6: A Political Theology of the Mosaic Distinction: The Development of Apophatic Intolerance
Chapter 7: Jesus Christ and Intolerance: Toward Revelation without Rivalry
Chapter 8: Conclusion: How to Be Intolerant