Reflection on the Limits and Scope of the Islamic Theology

Abstract

The present article is devoted to the issue of determining the disciplinary boundaries of Islamic theology in the context of the ‘Western’ views on nature and place of theological thought in the framework of intellectual subjects. The author emphasizes the historical dependency of the terms used in academic study of religion (religious studies) on the religious teaching of religion, as it has formed in Christian tradition. It is shown that the further progress of critical optics of social sciences and humanities is tied with decolonization of the scholar’s thinking. The urgent need for dialogue between different intellectual traditions is substantiated, for it is necessary to create a conceptual framework that is to be adequate to heterogeneous nature of the historical forms of religion. It is being proven in the article presented that there is only one alternative to the scholar’s consideration of the inner connections and the structure of discursive tradition of Islam itself: a covert ‘missionary contention’ conducted by the scholar against those belonging to the other tradition. It is stressed that any genuine (as opposed to formal) solution to the problem of unequivocal classification of Islamic theology in Western academic system may only be conditional. In conclusion the author turns to the essential affinity in the nature of authority of Islamic theologian, on the one hand, and that of Western scientist or philosopher, on the other.