Roots and Authorities: Resituating Revisionist and Ankara Paradigms in Light of Other Authorities

Abstract

This chapter explains how an understanding of Turkish theology as Muslim theology in dialectical tension with multiple traditions can develop and challenge previous literature on Turkish theology, addressing the work of two scholars of Turkish theology faculties: Felix Körner and Philip Dorroll. Körner’s writings on Turkish revisionist Qur’an hermeneutics depicted Turkish theology in a unique position to undertake a truly modern Muslim approach to the Qur’an. This chapter raises the concern that when the standard that constitutes a truly “modern” approach is brought in from outside Turkish discussions, it is liable to reinforce a questionable Islam vs. modernity binary. Dorroll comes much closer to breaking out of binaries in his treatment of Turkish theology in his work on the Ankara Paradigm. He argues for a seminal vein in Turkish theology that considers itself modern by tradition, even if his discussions are still largely framed within a religious vs. secular binary. By elaborating the decision to treat Turkish theology as both subject and source of conceptual frameworks, this chapter emphasizes the dialectical aspect of Turkish theology in its interactions with Turkish identity, the classical Arabic tradition, and Western intellectual tradition, highlighting theological moments of engagement that resist reduction to binary frameworks.