Dialectical Encounters: Contemporary Turkish Muslim Thought in Dialogue

About the Book

Discussions of Islam in Turkey are still heavily dominated by political considerations and the dualistic paradigms of modern v. traditional, secular v. religious. Yet there exists a body of Muslim institutions in the country Turkish theology faculties whose work overcomes ideological divisions. By engaging with Turkish theology in its theological rather than political concerns, this book sheds light on complex Muslim voices in the context of a largely Western and Christian modernity.
Featuring the work of Recep Alpyal and aban Ali Dzgn, this innovative study provides a concise survey of Turkish Muslim positions on religious pluralism and atheism as well as detailed treatments of both critical and appreciative Turkish Muslim perspectives on Western Christianity. The result is a critical reframing of the category of modernity through the responses of Turkish theologians to the Western intellectual tradition.

Table of Contents:
Part I: Introduction 1. Introduction: Turkish Muslim "Theology" and Religion in Turkey 2. Roots and Authorities: Resituating Revisionist and Ankara Paradigms in Light of Other Authorities Part II: The Individual and Authority in Dialectical Continuity 3. Alpyağıl’s Case for Canon 4. Inclusions and the Role of the Individual Part III: A Theological Anthropology of Empowerment 5. Düzgün’s Case for a Religion of Freedom 6. Human Agency, Responsibility, and Ta wḥīd Part IV: Conclusions 7. From Dialectics to Direct Address: Turkish Theologians on Atheism and Other Religions 8. Conclusion: Reflections on Turkish Islam, Modernity, and Dialogue Bibliography, Index

About the Author :
Taraneh R. Wilkinson obtained her Ph.D. in Religious Pluralism at Georgetown University. She is continuing her work on comparative aspects of Muslim and Christian thought as an international postdoctoral fellow at FSCIRE in Bologna, Italy. Her work addresses comparative aspects of Muslim and Christian thought and she has published articles in The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences and Journal of Ecumenical Studies.

Review :
This is a highly intelligent book; it concentrates on two contemporary Turkish theologians (Recep Alpyağıl and Şaban Ali Düzgün) but actually does a lot more than that. It provides an accurate snapshot of the state of the discipline of theology as interpreted by higher education institutions in Turkey in modern times, and given the significant role of religion in the country in recent years under the AKP regime this has wider relevance than merely being academic. [Wilkinson] has presented authors hardly known to the English-speaking word, with creative wording (e.g. her “tawḥidic framework”, 171) and interesting insights. This rich study gives a great insight into contemporary theological thinking in Turkey. Often considered a bridge between the Arabic and the Western world, Turkey has a significant but largely unexplored theological tradition. Taraneh Wilkinson has provided a great service by composing this careful theological evaluation of some of the bridge builders in contemporary Turkish Islam.