Mosaic

Issue date: 2/2/06 Section: News

Media Credit: Kimberly Osborne Cover art for Hersh's book, "9/11 Roses" by his wife Paula Bolduc.

In his new book, Poeticized Culture: The Role of Irony in Rawls's Liberalism, James Hersh, director of Via and professor of philosophy at Salve Regina University, raises the question of whether liberal democracy allows citizens to hold literal or absolute religious beliefs.

Hersh first became interested in the topic during a sabbatical in 2003. He became intrigued by the historical controversies concerning Temple Mount in Jerusalem and the various claims about the area made by different religious groups, after reading article son the subject in the New York Times.

In order to research these issues, Hersh studied the religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe, as well as Islam in Turkey.

Hersh said that the book took about six months to write and about a year to index and edit. The extensive editing turned out to be worth it in the end.

"Somehow, I missed that I had written that Jesus rode into Jerusalem (on Palm Sunday) in 37 BCE," said Hersh. "That is, according to me, before he was born, a miracle!"

Despite the mishap, Hersh's book, which came out on Nov. 28, 2005, will be featured on a panel at this year's American Political Science Association Conference in Philadelphia.

While Hersh is happy about the strides he made in completing his book, he is also proud of his wife Paula, who supported his efforts and provided the cover art for the book, something Hersh considers to be the best part of the book.

Hersh will be giving a lecture on his book on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2006 at 4 pm in the McKillop Special Collections room. A reception and book signing will follow.

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