NEW BOOK CHAPTER: “Tawhid and its Political Exports: The Dialectics of Negative Theology and Islamic Utopianism,” in The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Muslim Liberation Theologies

A most excellent book, The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Muslim Liberation Theologies, edited by Emin Poljarević and Ivan Ejub Kostić, will soon be available to the public. My Chapter, entitled “Tawhid and its Political Exports: The Dialectics of Negative Theology and Islamic Utopianism” is included in this massive volume of nearly 600 pages. My chapter looks at the inherent negativity of the theological concept of Tawhid and how that negativity is translated into the socio-political term of “utopia.” In this book, I’m joined by many serious names in the field of Islamic Studies. If you want to read my chapter, you can download it below.

In this book, I’m joined by many serious scholars in the field of Islamic Studies. Check out the table of contents! Don’t forget to suggest ordering a copy to your institution’s library. This is a foundational book.

The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Muslim Liberation Theologies – 2026 – Byrd – Tawhid and Its Political Exports Download

October 23, 2026 0

It’s been four years since I started this project and a lot has happened in between, but the finish line is in sight. The authors in this book engage Dugin and his neo-Eurasianist anti-liberal, anti-Left, anti-democracy, anti-West Noomakhia (War of Ideas). Ruscism thrives when it is not challenged, just like all other forms of fascism. It’s time to take up the fight.

Brill: The Russian Philosopher of the Apocalypse

October 21, 2026 0

Celebrating Dr. Brian Wilson’s Retirement at Western Michigan University

On October 17th, I was fortunate to join colleagues, graduate students, and former and active professors from the Comparative Religion department at Western Michigan University to celebrate the retirement of the amazing scholar and master pedagogue, Dr. Brian C. Wilson. Dr. Wilson came to WMU in 1996 from UC-Santa Barbara, and quickly became an imminent scholar of local religious history. For thirty years he has educated WMU undergrads and graduate students in religion, religious history, religious theory, etc. I shared my work on the problem of “Geist” within the Willensgemeinschaft and Volksgemeinschaft states regarding Muslims, especially in post-secular Europe.

Dr. Brian Wilson has written some amazing books on American religious history, including Yankees in Michigan, John E. Fetzer and the Quest for the New Age, The California Days of Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and the Religion of Biologic Living. These books are all well worth reading as they give incredible insights to the religious history of this area of southern Michigan.

It was great to see my dear friends and mentors, Dr. Nancy Falk, Dr. Stephen Covell, Dr. Kevin Wanner, Dr. Amy DeRogatis of MSU, and many others, including my dear friend and former office mate, Sarah Montgomery-Richards.

October 18, 2026 0

Psychological Precarity and the Magic Helper: Talking about Erich Fromm at Columbia University

On October 10, 2026, I had the opportunity to join other Erich Fromm scholars at the 2nd biennial Erich Fromm Society of North America conference held at Columbia University, New York. In my talk, I addressed the ways in which false consciousness is created by what Erich Fromm calls the “Magic Helper,” the person, ideology, movement, or group that the psychological precariat offload responsibility for their lives to. In times of great change, including economic and political chaos, those who suffer from what I have called “psychological precocity” – the abiding sense that one can or will “fall off the cliff” into an undesirable state of being – grows exponentially. In such times, people look for an authority outside of themselves that will magically resolve their conflicts, will slay the chaos, and restore them to their desired state of being. The conference was entitled, Erich Fromm and the Crisis of Democracy: Educational, Psychological, and Sociological Perspectives, and was organized by Rory Varrato, Ph.D., and Chiara Ginevra Berra, MPhil. I was joined in my panel by James E. Block, who spoke on “fashioning a democratic individual,” and Stephen Onley, who spoke on “the self-concealing crisis: automaton conformity and democratic legitimacy.” It was great to see my dear friend, Rainer Funk again, the greatest of scholars of Erich Fromm. He gave a wonderful talk on the last day entitled, “The Having Mode of Existence and Artificial Intelligence: Psychological Impact on Democracy.”

Here is the schedule of events from the conference: Erich Fromm Society of North America Conference 2026

October 15, 2026 0

“Biophilic and Necrophilic Charisma”: New Article for the Political Theology Network

The Political Theology Network published my short article, “Biophilic and Necrophilic Charisma,” on August 29, 2026. In this article I discuss Erich Fromm’s notions of “biophilia” – the “true love of life,” and “necrophilia” – the “true love of death” or all that is inanimate. I bring these two categories in conversation with Max Weber’s conception of “charisma,” in an attempt to distinguish between those in leadership positions who are essentially in service to life, meaningful existence, eudaemonia, and those who are in pursuit of that which is devoid of life: wealth, power, status, and destructiveness. Doing so, we arrive at the concepts of “biophilic charisma” and “necrophilic charisma,” which can be utilized as a means to interrogate the political, social, cultural, and economic leaders of today.

I would like to thank Maor Levitin for giving me the opportunity to write this short piece as well as the Political Theology Network for publishing it. It was a pleasure working with both.

To read the article, follow the link: Biophilic and Necrophilic Charisma.

August 29, 2026 0

NOW AVAILABLE: Critical Perspectives Vol. 2, no. 1

Critical Perspectives, Vol. 2, no. 1, is now available. It features articles by Joseph Alayna & Krikor Ankeshian, Seyed Javad Miri, Ghasem Pourhasan & Zahra Haji Shahkaram, Mehdi Shariati, and me. There are also book reviews by Dmitry Shlapentokh and me. Critical Perspectives is the official journal of the Institute for Critical Social Theory, which I founded and co-direct with my colleague, Seyed Javad Miri. If you are interested in contributing to Critical Perspectives, send your article to me, the Editor-in-Chief.

Critical Perspectives is published by Ekpyrosis Press.

If you’d like to purchase a copy of the latest edition, it is available through Lulu: Critical Perspectives Vol. 2, no. 1.

August 27, 2026 0

Talking Islamophobia in Dublin

On August 21st, 2026, I gave a talk about my chapter in the book, Secularism, Race, and the Politics of Islamophobia (University of Albert Press, 2025), edited by Dr. Sharmin Sadequee. My chapter is entitled “The Limits of the Translation Proviso: The Inherent Alien in the Willed-Society.” Entitled “Futures and Frontiers,” the conference was held at Dublin City University on the All Hallows campus – the site of a former monastery and Vincentian seminary. The conference was jointly sponsored by the Irish Society for the Academic Study of Religion (ISASR), the British Association for the Study of Religions (BASR), the Center for the Critical Study of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements (CenSAMM), and Dublin City University, School of Theology, Philosophy, and Music (DCU).

The conference was excellent, with great speakers and presenters, including Marion Bowman and Olivet Scharbrodt. My panel included Sharmin Sadequee and Alain Gabon, who both gave tremendously interesting and informative presentations on Islamophobia. A big shout out to Brad Anderson who organized the conference; it was masterfully done! I would also like to thank The University of Olivet for graciously sponsoring my work in Dublin.

For more information on the conference, see the brochure:

Conference Booklet BASR ISASR 2026-2 Download

August 27, 2026 0

“When the Dark Charismatic Fails: A Psycho-Political Analysis” at the Self & Society Symposium 2026

On August 6th, 2026, I had the great honor to join my colleagues at the Self & Society Symposium at Northeastern University – New York. Invited by my dear brother Professor Emeritus of Loyola University Chicago, Lauren Langman, my talk was based on my book, The Dark Charisma of Donald Trump: Political Psychology and the MAGA Movement. To listen to the presentation, see the video below.

August 13, 2026 0

Review: “The Many Faces of Christianism: The ‘Russian World’ in Europe”

On July 31st, 2026, an excellent review was published by Church Times regarding the book, The Many Faces of Christianism: The ‘Russian World’ in Europe. This exceptional and most timely book was edited by Marietta van der Tol, Sophia R.C. Johnson, Petr Kratochvíl, and Zoran Grozdanov, and published by Brill. The reviewer, Rev. Alexander Faludy, was especially gracious regarding my chapter, which along with Veronica Cibotaru’s chapter, he called the “book’s conceptual heart.” Read the full review below and buy yourself a copy!