by Ruth Bruno
If you pay any attention at all to current events, I’m sure you’ve wondered at some point what roles religion and identity play in violent behavior. Amin Maalouf explores these questions by offering his own opinions in his book In the Name of Identity (2000).
Maalouf briefly explains his multi-dimensional background as a Christian Arab raised in Lebanon who now lives in France. With such an array of experience with varying cultures and religions, Maalouf is able to provide an appropriate perspective on the issues he writes of.
Throughout his book, the author questions the perception that religion can be blamed for a certain amount of violence. He argues that it is not religion that has an effect on people but rather people have the most effect on religion. Readers may find themselves questioning or agreeing with his opinion that religion is a fluid belief which changes to meet the demands of certain societies and cultures.
His arguments do not stop with religion, however. Maalouf goes on to present questions about democracy. Why is the Christianity more adoptive of democracy? And why is modernization synonymous with Westernization? What affects do these words have on societies and countries that are not praised for their innovations and human rights movements?
The beauty of Maalouf’s book lies in these questions, which are not answered forcefully by the author. Through his writing, readers will get the sense that Maalouf is the type of person who they could argue with and at the end of the day, friendships would be made.
The book reads not as a story but more as a long high school thesis. Simple wording and structured points allow for his arguments on a complex topic to be easily understood. At some points readers may find themselves urging him to continue with an issue as he will, at times, abruptly come to a close at riveting points of a chapter. He tends to write as if the world is quickly running out of paper. Perhaps he will explore global sustainability in his next book.
While his conclusions to his questions are a bit simplistic, they are sensible. The issues explored are the ones that great late-night arguments are made of.