Islam, Christianity and Tradition: A Comparative Exploration / Edition 1

by Ian Richard Netton

Overview

Offers a unique comparative exploration of the role of tradition in Islam and Christianity.The idea of ‘tradition’ has enjoyed a variety of senses and definitions in Islam and Christianity, but both have cleaved at certain times to a supposedly ‘golden age’ of tradition from the past. In comparing the role of tradition in Islam and Christianity, key themes are explored:• The roles of authority• Fundamentalism• The use of reason• Ijtihad (independent thinking)• Original comparisons between Islamic Salafism and Christian LefebvrismThe author suggests there has been a chain of thinkers from classical Islam to the twentieth century who share a common interest in ijtihad (or independent thinking). Drawing on past and present evidence, and using Christian tradition as a focus for contrast and comparison, the author highlights the seemingly paradoxical harmony between tradition and itjihad in Islam.The author draws on a variety of primary and secondary sources including contemporary newspaper and journal articles, documents and letters, adding an immediacy to a lucid and stimulating text.Key Features• Proposes a new vocabulary for the articulation of Islam• Offers original comparisons between Salafism and Lefebvrism• Highlights the paradoxical harmony between tradition and itjihad in Islam• Articulates the yearning amongst today’s Muslim and Christian traditionalists for a revival of a ‘golden age’ from whence, they believe, all good traditions derive

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780748623914
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	12/22/2006
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Ian Richard Netton is Emeritus Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter. He is the author or editor of 22 other books and is an internationally acclaimed authority in the field of Islamic Studies. His particular research interests include Islamic Philosophy and theology, Islamic anthropology, Sufism, and medieval Arab travellers.

Table of Contents

1. Preparation for a Threefold Sieve; 1.1 Whose Agenda for the 21st Century?; 1.2 The 20th Century Revisited: Surveys and Approaches; 1.2.1 The Way of the Historian of Religion; 1.2.2 The Way of the Anthropologist; 1.2.3 The Way of the Traveller; 1.3 Methodologies for a New Millennium; 1.3.1 Phenomenology, Husserl and Heidegger: Object; 1.3.2 Semiotics and Eco: Sign; 1.3.3 Theology and Eliade: The Sacred; 1.3.3.1 The Sacred and the Profane; 1.3.3.2 Mircea Eliade, the Sacred and Islam; 1.4.1 Case Study Ground Zero: Object; 1.4.2 Case Study Ground Zero: Sign; 1.4.3 Case Study Ground Zero: The Sacred; 1.5 Samuel Huntington Revisited ; 1.6 Conclusion; 2. Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy: A Worn Vocabulary Explored; 2.1 Rejecting the Terms: Baldick contra Popovic and Veinstein; 2.2 Christianity: Sources of Authority and Right Doctrines; 2.2.1 The Authority of the ekklesia (1): Arius and Arianism; 2.2.2 The Authority of the ekklesia (2): Augustine, Manichaeism and the Flesh Rejected; 2.3.1 Reading the Phenomena of Christianity; 2.3.2 Reading the Signs of Christianity; 2.3.3 Reading the Sacred in Christianity; 2.4 Islam: Sources of Authority and Right Doctrines; 2.4.1 The Authority of the Text (1): Ibn Hanbal and the Text Transcendent; 2.4.2 The Authority of the Text (2): Al-Ghazali and the Isma'ili Imam; 2.5.1 Reading the Phenomena of Islam; 2.5.2 Reading the Signs of Islam; 2.5.3 Reading the Sacred in Islam; 2.6 Conclusion; 3. The Flight to Tradition: A Paradigm of Return and Denial; 3.1 Christian Tradition; 3.2.1 Pre-Conciliar: Pascendi and Divino Afflante Spiritu; 3.2.2 Post-Conciliar The Spirit and Practice of Marcel Lefebvre; 3.3 Sunna: Definitions and Distinctions; 3.4 Neo-Ijtihad and Return to the Salaf; 3.5 Tradition, Purification, Kenosis and Return; Bibliography.

Editorial Reviews

This book is highly recommended as an invaluable text in unfolding the place of tradition(s) in Islam and Christianity which pushes the reader to acknowledge that these faiths are not monoliths but thriving between a variety of ideologues and ideologies.

British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies - Amanuallah De Sondy

Promises to be a ground-breaking work… an important book that everyone interested in Islam in the modern world should know about.

Dr David Thomas

This book will be useful for libraries interested in the comparative study of monotheism... Recommended.

CHOICE

This book will be useful for libraries interested in the comparative study of monotheism... Recommended.

Choice

Promises to be a ground-breaking work … an important book that everyone interested in Islam in the modern world should know about.

Doctor - David Thomas