This week’s book isn’t exactly about law and religion, but we’re going to give ourselves a little leeway. Next month, SUNY Press will release a new book by one of our former student fellows, John Boersma, who has gone on to an academic career in political theory: Aristotle’s Quarrel with Socrates: Friendship in Political Thought. John, who’s currently a visiting associate professor at Christendom College, argues that Aristotle’s understanding of friendship offers a way to bridge the gap between philosophy and politics–which, come to think of it, sounds relevant to debates about the tension between religion, understood as a private pursuit, and public life. So perhaps John’s book is relevant to law-and-religion after all. Congrats, John! Here’s the publisher’s description:

Aristotle’s Quarrel with Socrates is an account of the role friendship plays in ancient political thought. Examining Platonic dialogues and Aristotle’s ethical and political treatises, John Boersma makes the case that the different stances Aristotle and Socrates take toward politics can be traced to their divergent accounts of friendship. Aristotle’s Quarrel with Socrates brings to the fore the tension that exists between the philosophic life as exemplified by Socrates and the life devoted to politics. It goes on to argue that Aristotle’s account of a friendship of the good, based on human excellence, can reduce, not to say eliminate, this tension, enabling the development of a political community that is organized for action in history.