Beyond the Confessional/Non-Confessional Divide—The Case of German Islamic Theological Studies

Jan Felix Engelhardt

doi:10.3390/rel12020070

Abstract

This article focuses on the cross-disciplinary collaboration of Islamic theological studies, Islamic Studies, and integrative perspectives of professors in Islamic Theology in Germany. Based on extensive interviews with German Muslim professors in theological centers, Engelhardt argues that in Germany, where the Ministry of Education and Research established several centers for Islamic Theology, the theological scholarly community is too small to cover all areas of Islamic knowledge and therefore integrates knowledge from Islamic Studies into their research and teaching to a great extent. As a result, Islamic Studies constitutes the most important neighboring discipline to German Islamic Theology. In this article, he explores the question of how exactly German Islamic Theology negotiates this relation with Islamic Studies. The article will show how the debate between Islamic Theology and Islamic Studies—as articulated by professors from both disciplines—relates to the ongoing question of what constitutes or is understood as ‘apt knowledge’ by current ‘academic knowledge production’ and authority formation about ‘the Islamic’.

Highlights

Islamic education and research at Western European universities is a growing phenomenon, as other contributions in this Special Issue tell.1 Against the backdrop of political and social discourses on Islam in Europe, it is no wonder that the education of Muslim academic and religious professionals attracts great attention inside and outside academia
They were asked as andisciplines academic prove th nottheir the definition mentionedofdivisions between both discipline, their take on confessional research, epistemic and functional insiderism, their we look at the way Islamic Theology is currently establishing its stance towards Islamic Studies, and their self-concept as Muslim theologians at universities
This indicates that Islamic Theology does does not establish itself as a closed epistemic community, but heavily relies on academic not establish itself as a closed epistemic community, but heavily relies on academic knowledge that Islamic Studies provide

Summary

Introduction

Islamic education and research at Western European universities is a growing phenomenon, as other contributions in this Special Issue tell. Against the backdrop of political and social discourses on Islam in Europe, it is no wonder that the education of Muslim academic and religious professionals attracts great attention inside and outside academia. There is the scholar of Islamic Studies who observes her Musdisciplines who provide a critical context to that development This allows for reflecting lim theological colleagues produce different research questions, paradigms, and findings the emergence of Muslim education in European academia from both inside and outside of core subjects of her very own discipline. But point out other aspects relevant to the establishment of Islamic Theology in G with Muslim organizations, the state and the public, the formation of a theological canon against systems of Islamic knowledge or to key research questions of the discipline These subcategories wer main categories consisting of “philosophy of science”, “tasks”, “stakeholders” and “Islamic theology insider and confessional or denominational perspective on Islam For example, considersconsiders this duality only unapt to unapt to contemporary of but research and alien to thetradition: Islamic tradition: contemporary modes ofmodes research alien to the “When such as as al-Ṭabarī [9th “When II open open aa commentary commentary such [9th C

Qur’anic

Islamic Theology as a Hybrid Discipline

Functional Insiderism

Conclusions