Overview

In an increasingly polarized age, culture wars are everywhere. They are often criticized as superficial or confected disagreements designed to distract us from more important issues. Is this true, or are they rather more fundamental than that? In this thoughtful and passionate intervention, renowned theologian and moral philosopher Nigel Biggar argues that 'culture wars' are in fact political and moral debates that cut to the very quick of some of the most substantial questions of our time, ranging from the welfare of children to the way we conceive and manage ethnic and cultural differences in diverse societies. The fact that these debates are so often characterized by bad faith, dishonesty, and mindless abuse exposes the rot at the heart of the intellectual culture of the west, in universities, the media, and beyond. An authoritarian desire to suppress or smear opponents and exercise the power of intimidation and coercion is a dramatic illustration of a dangerous reality: our fragile and valuable liberal culture of rational truth-seeking and good faith civility is under threat. A new dark age looms. Mixing firsthand experience with broad ethical, political, and cultural reflection, this is a powerful and erudite polemic from one of our most respected thinkers.

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Nigel Biggar is Emeritus Regius Professor in the University of Oxford and fellow of Christ Church. He founded in Oxford the MacDonald Institute for the study of Ethics and Empire. He is now a Fellow of St Cross College Oxford--author, lecturer, and broadcaster throughout the English speaking world. After many acclaimed academic books, he wrote and published the bestselling Colonialism. Hannibal Hills has been a ""performer"" from the beginning. At school, he trained in acting and theater arts at Southampton College, and also received a diploma in television. Although he performed in many stage plays (by Lorca, Brecht, Stoppard, Pinter, and, of course, Shakespeare), he also helped produce original works, and soon found himself mostly in the directing role. More recently, in March of 2020, he won the ""Best Newcomer"" award (no small feat for this middle-aged guy!) as part of his regional media's annual theater awards. In March of 2021, he was thrilled to receive three Independent Audiobook Award nominations. Hannibal was also a top wedding and memorial celebrant, before he could no longer fight the urge to leap into audiobook performance. It's a supreme pleasure for Hannibal to bring good writing off the page and into the minds and hearts of listeners. As a professional narrator, he devotes himself to understanding a text, and giving a book life with his voice-in a way that creates true entertainment, enlightenment, or merely an escape. Hannibal's vocal style is warm, clear, and sophisticated, with a depth of emotion from connecting with each project he takes on. Although he specializes in dramatic fiction, especially involving complex plots and highly charged emotion, his nonfiction is performed in a way that brings the truth of the text to both the heart and mind of the reader.

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