The Potential for Expressing Post-secular Citizenship Through the Deobandi Doctrine

Islamic education has been regarded as a thorn in the side of religious minority community integration into the nation state, and consequently to the expression of citizenship. Expressions of citizenship are associated with public participation while Islamic education is more readily associated with retreat and isolation of religious communities. At the same time the pervasiveness of religion in public life has led to calls for the post-secular—that is where religious communities are present in secular society. Habermas demonstrates that a public which is literary constituted through critical rational communication is an effective means with which individuals can participate in the public sphere of modern society. Literary publics get constituted when three features are satisfied; writing, reading and discussing matters of common interest. The article considers the features of a literary public in relation to a review of some literature on the Deobandi education movement. The article argues that Islamic education at Deobandi institutions is able to constitute a literary public through the use of common texts in vernacular languages which are accessible to individuals who can then read and discuss them. The article suggests, then, that Islamic education within the Deobandi network of institutions opens up fascinating possibilities for expressing of post-secular citizenship requiring further research.     

Christianity in Turkish religious education

This article aims to examine the presentation of Christianity in terms of selected Turkish textbooks. Particular attention is given to three issues: Jesus, the role of Paul in the development of Christianity, and the Scriptures. These topics are frequently dealt with and emphasized by the textbooks. Other themes related to Christianity are also mentioned, as well as its visual presentation. Before this examination, in order to provide a background for the presentation of Christianity in the textbooks, the history of religious education and the teaching of non‐Islamic religions in schools are briefly investigated. The examination notes the explicit influence of the confessional approach in Turkish religious education. Consistent with this attitude, non‐Islamic religions are generally externalized as religions. Thus, Christianity has been treated in terms of an Islamic understanding of religion, and the dominant influence of the Qur'dn and the traditional Islamic viewpoint aboutahl al‐kitab (People of the Book) has been observed.     

Islam and politics in Indonesia: The political thought of Abdurrahman Wahid

Abdurrahman Wahid is one of the few prominent contemporary Islamic leaders in Indonesia who is often considered controversial. Some studies have been conducted of his idea of Islamic reform in general, and his political thought in particular, but they do not try to make a coherent link between Abdurrahman's Islamic theology and his political thought. In this article, I argue that Abdurrahman's concepts of ‘Islamic universalism’, ‘cosmopolitanism’ and ’pribumisasi’ are strongly attached to his political thought, i.e. his idea of Islam and state relationship, of Islam and Pancasila and of democracy. The arguments developed by Abdurrahman to support his ideas are not uncommon among other Islamic reformers, especially the idea of maslaha. However, his endeavor to put Islamic ideals in Indonesian context can be considered unique and innovative.     

Coping with diversity in Religious Education: an overview

As a result of secularisation and increasing religious diversity, several European nation have states adapted their policy with regard to the organisation of Religious Education (RE) (or its equivalent) in state schools (schools funded and established by the state). In this article, different strategies will be outlined and evaluated: (1) the shift from confessional/catechetical to semi-confessional RE; (2) the possibility of exemption; (3) the organisation of an alternative, non-confessional, subject; (4) the expansion of RE subjects (multi-religious RE); (5) the shift from confessional to non-confessional RE; (6) the integration of information about religions in other school subjects. Based on a human rights perspective, the author argues why some of these strategies are preferable to others.     

Toward a Needs-Based Conception of Intersubjectivity

Abstract

Lawrence Hamilton's The Political Philosophy of Needs is an attempt to suggest an alternative to the current tendency of political theorists towards discussing politics in an overly abstract and theoretical manner, as well as their propensity to introduce an idealised-consensual picture political discourse. As part of such a project, the book includes a critique of Habermas and, more directly, of Habermasian advocates of Discursive Ethics. In one of its more provocative moments, the book offers an analysis of the opaqueness of the category of 'Civil Society'. Its conclusion is that political theorists would be better off to abandon this category altogether. Hamilton, however, shares with Habermas and the proponents of Discursive Ethics a view of politics at the centre of which is an ‘intersubjective’ conception of human nature. On this matter, and contrary to the Habermasian schema, the book introduces what can be termed as a 'needs-based conception of intersubjectivity'. This article suggests a critical examination of this novel conception of intersubjectivity, along with its strengths and weakness. More concretely, the paper seeks to examine: a. the extent to which 'needs-based intersubjectivity' suggests a complete departure from an idealised-consensual picture of political discourse.

b. the relations between 'needs-based intersubjectivity' and political authority.

     

Religious education for spiritual bricoleurs? the perceptions of students in ten Christian-ethos secondary schools in England and Wales

ABSTRACT

Religious Education (RE) in England and Wales functions within a post-secular culture. In the last fifty years, approaches characterised by academic rigour, impartiality, and professionalism have been prioritised. In this post-secular culture, the notion of bricolage aptly describes how some young people seek meaning, explore the spiritual dimension of life, with fragmented understandings of, experiences and encounters with the religious traditions. This paper draws on data from an empirical research project involving 350 students, to explore why students in ten Christian-ethos secondary schools in England and Wales recognised Religious Education (RE) as a significant contributor to their spiritual development. The analysis is illuminated by employing the concept of a narthical learning space (NLS) as the lens with which to examine young people’s experiences. Three aspects of RE are explored: the debating of existential questions; opportunities to theologise and reflect; and encounters with the beliefs, practices, and opinions of others. This article argues that the concept of RE as a narthical learning space alongside the notion of young people as spiritual bricoleurs illuminates how the students in this study interpret the contribution of RE to their spiritual development.     

Ricoeur's Account of Tradition and the Gadamer–Habermas Debate

While it is clear that the Gadamer–Habermas debate has had a major influence on Paul Ricoeur, his commentators have had little to say about the nature of this influence. I try to remedy this silence by showing that Ricoeur's account of tradition is a direct response to the Gadamer–Habermas debate. First, I briefly explain the debate's importance and describe Ricoeur's reaction to it. Next, I show how his discussion of tradition in Time and Narrative steers a middle course between Gadamerian hermeneutics and Habermasian Ideologiekritik. Finally, I raise some critical questions about the adequacy of Ricoeur's middle course. Specifically, I argue that it rests on an implausible distinction between the form and the content of tradition.     

Rebuilding a Confessional State: Islamic Ecclesiology in Turkey,Russia and China

Abstract

Religions are playing an ever more prominent role in the public sphere in the world today, and it hardly seems productive to examine religion–state relations from the traditional liberal standpoint of idealising the state's non-intervention in religious matters. In this article we examine the relations between Islam and the state in Turkey, Russia/the Soviet Union and China, using the concept of the ‘confessional state’. A confessional state tries to use not only its dominant religion but also minority religions of all kinds to mobilise wider groups of the population. In confessional states the relations between the state and bodies of clergy are federative, not master-subordinate. The core of the Ottoman confessional state was the millet system, while the ?eyhülislam managed the Muslim majority. The Russian Empire copied the ?eyhülislam and created the Muftiate. Neither the Qing Empire nor the Republic of China built a nationwide system of Muslim administration, so the People's Republic of China architected it from scratch, on the basis of its own communist idea of the ‘united front’. These confessional states were seriously damaged by Atatürk's secularism in Turkey, communist atheism in the Soviet Union and the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution in China. Later, leaders of these countries realised that secularism and communism could not monopolise the spiritual market of faith, and desperately needed to mobilise the nation, even with the help of traditional religion. They did not try to reintroduce confessional states on the lines of those which had historically existed, but tried to use religious congregations to mobilise the wider strata of the population. In this attempt, the three countries faced different challenges: Turkey suffers from the confessional homogeneity of the state; postcommunist Russia lacks a nationwide Muslim administration; and in China the Muslims do not have an autonomous clerical hierarchy.     

Islamic shari'a law,neotraditionalist Muslim scholars and transgender sex-reassignment surgery: A case study of Ayatollah Khomeini's and Sheikh al-Tantawi's fatwas

The attitude of Islamic scholarship and law with regard to the issue of transgender sex-reassignment surgery is still an important subject for Muslim transgender people. This operation was mostly regarded as sinful, thus prohibited (haram) in Islam by both Sunni and Shi'a traditional scholars. But in the late 1980s, sex-reassignment surgery was legalized (made halal) in shari'a and/or in state law by the fatwas of Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran and Sheikh Muhammad al-Tantawi in Egypt. It seems that these fatwas should initially be considered as an indication of Islamic tolerance toward transgender Muslims. This article explains how the transgender Muslims’ situation prompted the fatwas on sex-reassignment surgery and, therefore, how the fatwas, ultimately, expanded the scope of Islamic tolerance. The paper analyzes the main juridical reasons behind Khomeini and Al-Tantawi issuing such progressive fatwas through their classical methodology of understanding the Islamic concept of ijtihad. Following the same methodology, the article, as further discussion, offers to open up an Islamic debate over similar and related cases, such as homosexuality and bisexuality, aiming to improve Islamic tolerance or acceptance of these phenomena.     

Refuge in the Bosoms of the Mountains: A Ninth-Century Muslim Appraisal of Monastic Piety

ABSTRACT

This article examines a relatively little-known text, the Kitāb al-ruhbān/Book of Monks, from the ninth-century Muslim moralist, Ibn Abī al-Dunyā. The topical range of Ibn Abī al-Dunyā’s own literary corpus was extensive, yet the concern for ascetic practices forms a consistent thread throughout his work. As for this particular text, the esoteric wisdom associated with asceticism is specifically communicated through the teachings of Christian hermits. The Kitāb al-ruhbān, formulated as a collection of short dialogues and edifying statements regarding Christian monastic piety, profoundly demonstrates the continuing appreciation for monastic insight, particularly amongst Muslim ascetics, well into the Islamic period. There are, moreover, no explicit traces of sectarianism or confessional barriers here. Instead, the sagacious maxims for maintaining a righteous life are often passed from Christian hermits to devout Muslim listeners. This text thus further reveals the intricate connections between Christian monastic communities and medieval Islamic mystical culture.     

Exploring Habermas’s Critical Engagement with Chomsky

This article explores Jürgen Habermas’s critical employment of Noam Chomsky’s insights and the philosophical assumptions that motivate or justify Habermas’s early enrichment of his universal pragmatics with material drawn from generative linguistics. The investigation of the influence Chomsky’s theory has exerted on Habermas aims to clarify what Habermas means by universalism, reason embedded in language and the universal core of communicative competence—away from various misinterpretations of Habermas’s rationalist commitments and from reductive, conventionalist readings of his notion of consensus. Much against hasty and unexamined incriminations of Habermasian pragmatics, a turn to a neglected and scantly researched topic such as the philosophical affinity of some Chomskian and Habermasian themes (and to the philosophical justification of the points where Chomsky and Habermas part company) will retrieve the kind of depth and nuance that may lead us beyond facile and simplistic understandings of what discursively reaching consensus might mean from a Habermasian point of view.     

Communication,reflexivity and harm principle: what might an ideal speech situation look like in responsibility to protect?

ABSTRACT

Previous accounts of International Relations research have extensively focused on deontological ethics in analysing Responsibility to Protect (R2P). At the same time, discourse ethics – along with Jürgen Habermas’ theory of ideal speech situation – has been overlooked. This article argues that the R2P process has gradually moved toward the Habermasian ideal speech situation. The Habermasian approach also provides a useful theoretical framework to understand the new, more inclusive and critical, forums of communication and initiatives set in motion by emerging non-Western norm-entrepreneurs in the R2P process, notably the Responsibility while Protecting (RwP) initiated by Brazil in 2011. From the perspective of discourse ethics, RwP could be understood as a cosmopolitan harm principle designed to manage the potentially harmful side-effects of the application of R2P. The article further argues that, despite the current paradigm shift of norm-entrepreneurship on R2P from deontological ethics to discourse ethics, it has thus far only partially fulfilled the criteria of an ideal speech situation.     

Towards international comparative research on the professionalisation of Religious Education

This article calls for international comparative research on the professionalisation of Religious Education (RE). To this end, it provides a rationale for focusing upon the concept of professionalisation and a theoretical justification for international comparative research, particularly identifying its significance in terms of the development of RE in England and Germany. The article outlines a methodology for exploring the concepts of professional knowledge, professional self-organisation and politics and professional development. The proposed methodology involves a systematic analysis of primary documentary sources including: (1) academic and professional journal articles and textbooks; (2) the archives of relevant institutions and organisations; and (3) external evidence, such as inspection and research reports. An analytical case study of two leading journals in each national context, Religion in Education in England and Der Evangelische Erzieher in Germany, in the immediate post-war era is appended to illustrate the benefits of implementing such a methodology across national boundaries.     

William J. Morgan’s ‘conventionalist internalism’ approach. Furthering internalism? A critical hermeneutical response

Several authors, such as William J. Morgan, John S. Russell and R. Scott Kretchmar, have claimed that the limits between the diverse normative theories of sport need to be revisited. Most of these works are philosophically grounded in Anglo-American philosophical approaches. For instance, William J. Morgan’s proposal is mainly based on Richard Rorty’s philosophy. But he also discusses with some European philosophers like Jürgen Habermas. However, Habermas’ central ideas are rejected by Morgan. The purpose of this paper is to analyse Morgan’s rejection of Habermas’ thought and show that a more appropriate normative of sport that explains better our current sporting world can be achieved by drawing on the German philosopher’s ideas. The plan of this paper is the following. It shall analyse the limits of the distinction between broad internalism and externalism by taking Morgan’s work as its starting point. To do so, firstly, the conventionalist way in which Morgan criticises the limits of interpretivism shall be explained (§2). Secondly, the relationship between Morgan’s proposals and the hermeneutical theories which are at the roots of his proposal shall be brought to light. Thirdly, since Morgan takes Habermas’ hermeneutical ethics to be an example of externalism, the relationship between his theory and Habermas’ ethical account shall be clearly defined. Moreover, Morgan’s proposal shall be criticised in the light of Habermas’ discourse ethics (§3). To conclude, a Habermasian approach in sport ethics shall be described (§4).     

‘Calling’ and ‘Training’: Role Innovation and Religious De-differentiation in Commercialised Indonesian Islam

Abstract

This article explores parallels between emergent Islamic popular culture in the commercial arena in Indonesia and popular religion propagated through the mass media in Europe and North America. Focusing on two emergent types of emicly distinguished but eticly overlapping lay religious roles, that of the da’i (lay preacher) and the ‘trainer’, it shows how borrowing from globally disseminated genres of secular culture by Islamic lay leaders in the commercial arena in Indonesia partially blurs the boundaries between religiously marked and unmarked communications, despite the popularity there of Islamicly marked dress styles and consumables. This is suggestive of a similar, if partial, de-differentiation of the religious and other communication spheres in Indonesia such as Hubert Knoblauch found in Europe. However, as in his reading of European popular religion, it does not further imply Weberian ‘disenchantment’, since leading exemplars of Indonesian Islamic commercialised ‘preaching’ and ‘training’, such as those examined in case material presented here, still focus consumers on the transcendent, while those proselytisers yet work to overcome the compartmentalisation of Indonesian selves in their differentiated modern society.     

The core of religious education: Finnish student teachers’ pedagogical aims

This article investigated the core of religious education (RE) by examining Finnish student teachers’ pedagogical aims in the context of Lutheran RE. The data consisted of essays (N=82) analysed in a deductive manner using the main concepts of the didactic triangle together with the aims of the Finnish National Core Curriculum. The student teachers identified familiarising oneself with one’s own and other religions in addition to growing ethically and understanding the religious dimension of life as the core goals of RE. By attaining these goals, pupils may also achieve the higher order aims of RE and cross-curricular goals of the curriculum. A teacher’s pedagogical and moral competence as well as expertise in subject matter was emphasised, and the pedagogical relation with students was also seen as important. A deeper understanding of pupils and the importance of a didactic relation in teaching were identified as pedagogical aims that need to be pursued further.     

The ʿUlamāʾ, Fatāwā and Challenges to Democracy in Contemporary Indonesia

This article examines the fatāwā issued by the Council of Indonesian ?ulamā? (Majelis Ulama Indonesia; MUI) regarding democracy, pluralism and religious minorities and explores their socio-historical contexts. The MUI emerges as having an ambiguous attitude towards democracy. The 1998 reform in Indonesia offered a backdrop that encouraged the MUI to be more independent from the state. This enabled the MUI to produce Islamic religious discourses that intersect with democracy, civil society, law enforcement, human rights, public security and elections. The MUI has accepted several principles that are prerequisites for a democratic society and state, such as equality before the law, good governance, protection of human rights, maintenance of public peace and security, and participation in fair elections. However, the Council is very conservative when comes to safeguarding Islamic faith and theology. It rejects pluralism, religious freedom and Muslim minorities such as the Ahmadiyya. The MUI's strict interpretation of Islam and support for Islamist ideology and conservatism prevent it from accepting democracy fully.     

A problem concerning the word order in the new testament

Beginning with a critical evaluation of the expression “post-secular society” by Habermas, I continue to a presentation of four recent genealogies of the secular (Asad, Lilla, Taylor and Agamben) and a short deliberation on their consequences for theological discourse. Proceeding from this debate, I suggest a new approach to the question of secularity that combines the genealogical perspective with a topological inquiry into the conditions for social space, geographical space, and power relations, including their origin and emergence (geneatopics). I argue that it will also have to take into account the problem of the unplaceable and the unclassifiable (the atopia). Hence I offer a contribution to the geneatopology of secularity and religion, based on examples from the Nordic context.