Coping with Defeat: Islam, Catholicism and the Modern State
The Islamic and Catholic political-religious empires have had a strikingly similar relationship with the modern state. Sunni and Catholic authorities experienced three major shocks and displacements—religious reformation, the rise of the nation-state, and mass migration — which shaped how each religion would come to experience the state’s political jurisdiction. Whereas early Christianity and Islam were characterized by missionary expansion, religious institutions forged in the modern era are primarily defensive in nature. They respond to the simple but overlooked imperative to adapt to political defeat while fighting off ideological challenges to their spiritual authority. This talk will discuss the historical path towards choosing transnational spiritual leadership over temporal political authority.
Jonathan Laurence is Professor of Political Science at Boston College and Director of the Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy. A specialist in comparative politics, Professor Laurence’s scholarship focuses on politics and religion in Western Europe, Turkey, and North Africa. He is the co-author of Integrating Islam: Political and Religious Challenges in Contemporary France (2006) and the author of The Emancipation of Europe’s Muslims: The State’s Role in Minority Integration (2012) and Coping with Defeat: Islam, Catholicism, and the Modern State (2021). Outside of the academy, Professor Laurence is a prolific and respected analyst. During his stint at the Brookings Institution (2008-2018), he addressed lawmakers on Capitol Hill, briefed diplomats, led a team of analysts at the State Department, and served on the Foreign Policy committee of two presidential campaigns. His research and commentary on international affairs have been featured on CNN and in the Washington Post, and he has published essays in the New York Times, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and the Wall Street Journal.
