About the Author

Rachel Scott is Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies in the Department of Religion and Culture at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Reviews

"Scott presents her timely subject with the nuance and complexity that it deserves ... [S]tudents of Christian-Muslim relations and of the intersection between religion and politics in the Middle East will find Scott's research to be a rich mine of data and analysis. The book will be of considerable interest to those who wish to learn about the political situation of Middle Eastern Christian, especially the Copts in Egypt." - Dustin W. Ellington, Missiology "Drawing on her extraordinary access to both Coptic and Muslim Brotherhood intellectuals, Rachel Scott provides a lucid and important study that transcends the posturing and the polemics. A must-read for anyone interested in Christian-Muslim relations in general and the issues being negotiated in Egypt in particular." - Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, Georgetown University "The Challenge of Political Islam stands alone. It addresses a very sensitive topic with great subtlety and detail, revealing the many faultlines in the complicated and evolving debate over non-Muslims, dhimma, and citizenship." - Andrew March, Yale University "Scott gauges seismic changes within Middle Eastern society from the bottom up. This exemplary work demonstrates how far some Islamists, namely the moderate middle, have departed from their contemporaries, and links crucial debates framed mainly in Arabic discourse to broader debates concerning citizenship, national identity, and public consensus in 21st-century Egypt." - Bruce Lawrence, Duke University