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Defenders of Reason
in Islam: Mu'tazilism from Medieval School to
Modern Symbol Richard C. Martin and Mark R.
Woodward, and Dwi S. Atmaja
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Defenders of Reason in Islam traces the origin and
development of the traditionalist-rationalist debate in Islamic societies
from the early centuries to the modern era. The book examines in particular
the influence of the medieval rational school of theology known as the Mu'tazila, which all but disappeared in Sunni Islam in
the late Middle Ages, but which has been rediscovered by modernist Muslim
intellectuals as part of their challenge against fundamentalist
interpretations of Islam. The book focuses on two
key texts, one dictated in Arabic towards the end of the tenth century by the
late great Mu'tazili theologian, 'Abd al-Jabbar', the other written in the 1970s by the Indonesian Muslim
modernist, Harun Nasution.
The texts, which are translated in full, are considered both as examples of Mu'tazili thought and as documents reflecting the
contexts and theological preoccupations of different historical ages. The authors conclude
with an analysis of contemporary scholarly interest in the rational and
critical spirit of Mu'tazilism. They consider the
views of Mu'tazilism and rational theology held by key modernist Muslim thinkers and explore
the implications of modernity on the continuing revelation-reason debate. Richard C. Martin is Professor and Chair
in the Department of Religion Emory University, Mark R. Woodwoard, an anthropologist specializing in Islam in Dwi S. Atmaja is Professor of Arabic
at the Islamic University of Pontianak,
Indonesia. |
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