Hans Joas, for decades now one of the world's most influential social theorists, sociologist and theorist of religion, and diagnostician of the modern age, has written an extraordinary, bracing book about the relation between the modern discourses of about religion and the modern idea of freedom. No one interested in any of these topics, especially no one interested in accounts of secularization and its meaning, can afford to ignore Joas's passionate, pellucid discussion.

Robert Pippin, The University of Chicago

Hans Joas is arguably the most important moral philosopher writing in German today. This book will go a long way in making clear to the Anglophone world why that is so.

Robert Norton, University of Notre Dame

Hans Joas is one of the most recognized and renowned contemporary sociologists of religion. In this book, he tackles a center question in the modern discussion of religion. What is the relation, if any, between public freedom and religious conviction? Through a wide-ranging discussion of crucial topics and thinkers, Under the Spell of Freedom takes the reader into the depths of this question. Importantly, Joas draws on his previous work on American pragmatism, human dignity, and human rights to offer an alternative conception of the connection between religion and freedom. This should be read and pondered by every serious student of religion and society. It is a fresh and exciting contribution to the field.

William Schweiker, Edward L. Ryerson Distinguished Service Professor of Theological Ethics, The University of Chicago