Islamic university theology

In the present article, the author discusses the emergence of new centres and chairs in Islamic theology in the Northern European context. Being mainly explorative, the article seeks to formulate a theoretical framework for analysing what happens to Islamic theology when it becomes integrated into a Northern European, secular university setting. Do we see a shift in emphasis from religion-specific traditionalism to de-culturalized universalism and interfaith dialogue? Key notions in the author’s analysis are formatting, university theology and the three publics (David Tracy) of theology. Empirical examples of how Islamic theology is currently being done (or formatted) in a European university setting are taken from two German centres for Islamic theology. With reference to publications originating from these centres, the author discusses different, but overlapping discourses in emerging Islamic university theologies – one centred on general subjects such as ethics, hermeneutics and humanism, another oriented towards “innovation in tradition”.