

Strange Gods
A Secular History of Conversion
Author: Susan Jacoby
Narrator: Elizabeth Wiley
Unabridged: 19 hr 33 min
Format: Digital Audiobook Download
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: 02/16/2016
Categories: Nonfiction, History, Religion
Synopsis
Moving through time, continents, and cultures, Jacoby examines conversions to authoritarian secular ideologies. She also provides portraits of individual converts, including the Catholic Church father Augustine of Hippo; the German Jewish convert to Catholicism Edith Stein, murdered at Auschwitz and canonized by the church; boxing champion Muhammad Ali, who scandalized white Americans in the 1960s by becoming a Muslim; and even politicians such as George W. Bush. Finally, Jacoby takes on the question of why the freedom to choose a religion—or to reject religion altogether—is a fundamental human rights issue that remains a breeding ground for violence in areas of the world that never experienced an Enlightenment.