Contemporary Rationalist Islam in Turkey: The Religious Opposition to Sunni Revival

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Gokhan Bacik (Palacky University, Czech Republic.)

Contemporary Rationalist Islam in Turkey

The Religious Opposition to Sunni Revival

Gokhan Bacik (Palacky University, Czech Republic.)

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English

I.B. Tauris
23 February 2023

Religion & politics; Islam; Islamic theology; Islamic studies; Islamic law

Nineteenth-century Istanbul was an intellectual hub of rich discussions about Islam, in which leading reformists had a significant role. Turkey today appears to be an intellectual vacuum to anyone searching for ongoing critical engagement with Islam. The main purpose of this book is to adjust this view of Turkey by showcasing the modern Turkish theologians who challenge mainstream Sunni interpretations of Islam. Labelling these theologians as ‘rationalist’ rather than ‘reformist’, the author reveals that their theology is inherently anti-establishment and thus a religiously-oriented challenge to the hegemony of the state-sanctioned Islam: for the rationalists, Turkey’s problems have their origins in the Sunni interpretation of Islam.

Contemporary Rationalist Islam in Turkey analyses nine prominent scholars of Islam who provide a religious opposition to the Sunni revival in Turkey: Hüseyin Atay, Yasar Nuri Öztürk, M. Hayri Kirbasoglu, Ilhami Güler, R. Ihsan Eliaçik, Ömer Özsoy, Mustafa Öztürk, Israfil Balci, and Mehmet Azimli. These scholars’ writings are almost exclusively published in Turkish, so this book makes their ideas available in English for the first time. It also examines the scope, methodology and argumentation of the scholars’ theology, categorizing their theological interpretations from ‘historicist’ to ‘universalist’ and from ‘empiricist’ to ‘rationalist’.

In identifying a new ‘rationalist’ school of Turkish theology and outlining its different manifestations, the book breaks new ground. It fills a significant gap in the literature on Islamic studies and reveals an understudied dimension of Turkey and Turkish Islam beyond the well-known ideas of the AKP and the Gulenists.

By: Gokhan Bacik (Palacky University Czech Republic.)
Imprint: I.B. Tauris
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9780755636785
ISBN 10: 0755636783
Pages: 248
Publication Date: 23 February 2023
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Gökhan Bacik is Professor of Political Science at Palacky University in the Czech Republic. He is the author of Islam and Muslim Resistance to Modernity in Turkey (2020) and Hybrid Sovereignty in the Arab Middle East: The Cases of Kuwait, Iraq and Jordan (2008), as well as numerous peer-reviewed articles. He previously worked as Associate Professor of International Relations at Ipek Universit, Turkey. His scholarship centers around contemporary politics of Islam and the Middle East.

Reviews for Contemporary Rationalist Islam in Turkey: The Religious Opposition to Sunni Revival

Contemporary Rationalist Islam in Turkey is a seminal and welcome contribution to public and university library Islamic Studies collections, highly recommended. * Midwest Book Review *