Faith and reason in higher education: social scientific study of Islam at Ankara University School of Divinity

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the mektep-madrasa controversy is manifested in Ankara University School of Divinity as a divide between those who see the study and teaching of Islam as a religion, and those who see it as a social science. The works of İlhami Güler, Hayri Kırbaşoğlu and Şaban Ali Düzgün who are scholars at Ankara University School of Divinity are analyzed to understand how they construct an academic study of Islam based on the premises of social sciences through questioning the binary logic behind the concepts of reason/faith, modern/traditional, knowledge/belief which is at the core of theological Islamic studies. Based on the analysis, I argue that although their approaches, points, emphases are different from each other, these scholars share the same objective which is the construction of a social scientific study of Islam in higher education as a ground to reconcile ongoing dichotomy in the academic study of Islam in Turkey.