Modest Claims – Dialogues and Essays on Tolerance and Tradition: Erasmus Institute Books

Modest Claims, which features essays by Seligman and dialogues between scholars representing the three monotheistic faiths, provides the beginnings of a very different set of arguments on tolerance and tradition. In so doing it seeks to uncover the sources of toleration and pluralism that exist within the traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Most contemporary approaches leave these sources largely unexplored and often marginalize them in current public debates and social agendas. Seligman and his dialogue partners seek to engage traditional understandings to uncover internal components that make dialogue between different religions and cultures possible. Espousing the idea of translation as a metaphor for the tolerant act, Modest Claims takes difference seriously as an aspect of existence that can be neither trivialized nor ignored. It explores and develops specifically religious arguments for tolerance and acceptance of others, as well as new strategies for understanding difference that are not rooted in individualist worldviews.

“Seligman is an excellent scholar of profound depth and subtlety. He has gathered a number of interesting and important scholars to discuss substantively this critical and cutting-edge topic.” —Marc Gopin, Tufts University