{"id":9493,"date":"2022-02-08T14:25:36","date_gmt":"2022-02-08T18:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/religion\/?post_type=profile&p=9493"},"modified":"2026-03-12T15:02:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T19:02:43","slug":"adam-seligman","status":"publish","type":"profile","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/religion\/faculty\/adam-seligman\/","title":{"rendered":"Adam Seligman"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adam B. Seligman is Professor of Religion at Boston University and Research Associate at the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs there. He has lived and taught at universities in this country, in Israel and in Hungary where he was Fulbright Fellow. He lived close to twenty years in Israel where he was a member of Kibbutz Kerem Shalom in the early 1970\u2019s. His many books include The Idea of Civil Society <\/em>(1992),\u00a0 Inner-worldly Individualism (1994)<\/em>, The Problem of Trust<\/em> (1997), Modernity\u2019s Wager: Authority, the Self and Transcendence (2000)<\/em> , with Mark Lichbach Market and Community<\/em> (2000) Modest Claims, Dialogues and Essays on Tolerance and Tradition<\/em> (2004), with Weller, Puet and Simon, Ritual and its Consequences: An Essay on the Limits of Sincerity<\/em> (2008) and most recently, with Weller Rethinking Pluralism: Ritual, Experience and Ambiguity<\/em> (2012). His U\u0308ber die Herausforderung der Verschiedenheit und die neue Wertereligion <\/em>(with L. Woodhead), and Oaths and Vows: Words as Genesis<\/em> (with M. Schnitter) are forthcoming this 2024 year. His work has been translated into over a dozen languages. In 2020 he was recipient of the Dr. Leopold Lucas Prize of the University of Tubingen.\u00a0 <\/span>He is Founding Director of CEDAR \u2013 Communities Engaging with Difference and Religion (<\/em>www.CEDARnetwork.org<\/a>) which leads seminars every year on contested aspects of religion and the public square in different parts of the world and has established permanent programs in Japan, Indonesia, Uganda and Kenya. He lives in Newton, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

CV May 2024<\/a><\/p>\n

Books<\/h2>\n

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Boundaries and Community: Rules for Re-Engagement<\/i><\/a>
\nBy: Adam B. Seligman
\nJune, 2026
\nUniversity of Toronto Press
\nBuy it now<\/a>!<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>How Things Count as the Same: Memory, Mimesis, and Metaphor<\/em><\/a>
\nBy: Adam B. Seligman and Robert P. Weller
\nDecember 3, 2018
\nOxford University Press
\nBuy it now<\/a>!<\/p>\n

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\"Seligman\"<\/a>Living with Difference: How to Build Community in a Divided World (California Series in Public Anthropology)<\/a>
\n<\/span><\/em>By Adam Seligman, <\/span>Rahel Wasserfall <\/span><\/span><\/span>,<\/span><\/em> and <\/span>David W. Montgomery <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/em>January 12, 2016<\/span>
\nUniversity of California Press
\nBuy it now from <\/span>Amazon.com!<\/a><\/span>
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<\/span><\/em><\/a>\"ReligiousReligious Education and the Challenge of Pluralism<\/a>
\n<\/em>Edited by A<\/span>dam Seligman<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\n<\/span><\/em><\/a>Octobe<\/span>r 1, 2014<\/span><\/span><\/a>
\nOxford University Press
\nBuy it now from Amazon.com!<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"Rethinking<\/a> <\/em><\/a>Rethinking Pluralism: Ritual, Experience, and Ambiguity<\/em><\/a>
\nBy Adam Seligman and Robert Weller
\n2012
\nOxford University Press
\nBuy it now from Amazon.com!<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"\u05e2\u05d8\u05d9\u05e4\u05d4-<\/a>The Burden of Tolerance: Religious Traditions and the Challenge of Pluralism
\n<\/em><\/a>by <\/em> <\/em>Adam Seligman
\n2012
\nThe Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and Hakibbutz Hameuchad<\/p>\n

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\"Ritual<\/a>Ritual and Its Consequences: An Essay on the Limits of Sincerity<\/a><\/em>
\nby Adam Seligman, Robert Weller, Michael Puett, and Bennett Simon
\n2008
\nOxford University Press
\nBuy it now from Amazon.com!
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\"Modest<\/a>Modest Claims: Dialogues and Essays on Toleration and Tradition
\n<\/em><\/a>by <\/em> <\/em>Adam Seligman
\n<\/a>2004
\nNotre Dame University Press
\nBuy it now from Amazon.com!
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\"Modernitys<\/a>Modernity\u2019s Wager: Authority, the Self and Transcendence<\/a><\/em>
\nby <\/em> <\/em>Adam Seligman
\n<\/a>2000
\nPrinceton University Press
\nBuy it now from Amazon.com!<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"Market<\/a>Market and Community: The Bases of Social Order,Revolution and Relegitimation<\/em><\/a>
\nby <\/em> <\/em>Adam Seligman and Mark Lichbach
\n2000
\nPenn State University Press
\nBuy it now from Amazon.com!
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\"The<\/a>The Problem of Trust<\/a>
\n<\/em>by <\/em> <\/em>Adam Seligman
\n1997
\nPrinceton University Press
\nBuy it now from Amazon.com!<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"Innerworldly<\/a>Innerworldly Individualism: Charismatic Community and its Institutionalization<\/em><\/a>
\nby <\/em> <\/em>Adam Seligman
\n1994
\nTransaction Press
\nBuy it now from Amazon.com!
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\"The<\/a>The Idea of Civil Society <\/a><\/em><\/a>
\nby <\/em> <\/em>Adam Seligman
\n1992
\nThe Free Press
\nBuy it now from Amazon.com!<\/a><\/p>\n

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Oaths and Vows: Words as Genesis<\/p>\n

by Adam Seligman<\/p>\n

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Beyond Tribal Lines: Reimagining Communities and Boundaries in Africa<\/p>\n

by Adam Seligman<\/p>\n

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Courses<\/h2>\n
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  • CAS RN 249\/JS 379 Islamophobia and Antisemitism<\/li>\n
  • CAS RN 250 Introduction to the Sociology of Religion<\/li>\n
  • CAS RN 336\/636 The Heretical Jew<\/li>\n
  • CAS RN 465\/795 Religion & Society<\/li>\n
  • CAS RN 466\/766 Religion and the Problem of Tolerance<\/li>\n
  • CAS RN 795 Humanities Approaches to Religion<\/li>\n
  • CAS RN 796 Social Science Approaches to Religion<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"author":1630,"template":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/9493"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/profile"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1630"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/9493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12015,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/9493\/revisions\/12015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/religion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}