Book: Towards a Comparative History of the Monotheistic Religions

291 pages

• Abu Hayyan as an Example of Humanist Philosophical Thought
• Ethics Beyond the State and Religion
• A New Universal Ethics
• Tools for Deconstructing Taboos
• The Contemporary Crisis of Islam Has Multiple Causes
• The Contemporary Crisis of Islam
• The Crisis of Faith and Reason
• The Modern Crisis of the Arab-Islamic World
• The West Is in a Moral Crisis
• The Mediterranean Crisis and September 11
• Types of Contemporary Intellectuals
• The Origins of the Eastern Monotheistic Religions
• The Priority of Accurate Historical Survey
• The Priority of Comparing Religions
• Displacing European Modernity
• Educational Reform to Combat Extremism
• Adding Modern Knowledge to the Arab Sphere
• Bringing Back Averroes Alone Is Not Enough
• The Exclusion of Averroes in Islam
• Neglect of the Question of the Other
• Averroes Was Not the Age of Independence
• Averroes Succeeded in Europe and Failed Here
• Averroes as a Model of Critical Rationality
• Averroes and Ibn Khaldun: Two Rational Moments
• Averroes and the Censorship of 1277
• The Reduction of the Teaching of Islamic Thought
• The Flourishing of Literature and Philosophy, and Then Their Decline
• The Flourishing of Rationality Is Linked to Multiple Factors
• The Flourishing of Philosophy in the Golden Age
• The Impossibility of Fully Reaching the Oral Original
• The Reception of Maimonides and Thomas Aquinas
• The Spiritual and Political Independence of Islam
• The Autonomy of Reason in Modernity
• The Independence of Philosophy and Theology Today
• The Effects of Closure Continue to This Day
• The Continued Centrality of Islamic Theology
• The Persistence of the Religion-Reason Dilemma
• Hadith and Moral Virtues Narrow Philosophy
• Modern Universal Ethics
• Critical Ethics Differ from Moralizing Ethics
• Ethics, Religion, and Politics: An Intertwined History
• The Man of Letters as a Gatherer of Knowledge and Virtues
• Imagined Islamic Fundamentalism
• Islamic Fundamentalism Is the Offspring of Political Theology
• The Desired Human Horizon
• Ideas Are Defined by Their Social Conditions
• Enjoining Right Is a Historical and Ethical Concept
• Hope as a Utopian Theological Function
• Non-Democratic Regimes Nationalize Religion
• Performative Islam Conceals Spiritual Religiosity
• Official Islam Does Not Represent Other Islams
• Political Islam as a Tool of Legitimate Mobilization
• Ideologized Islam Hijacks Power
• Islam as Targeted and Distorted
• Islam as Part of the Monotheistic Sequence
• Islam within the Monotheistic Sequence
• Islam Remained within a Closed Framework
• Islam, Christianity, and Judaism Historically
• Islam and the Beginning of a New Mediterranean World
• Islamophobia and Historical Racism
• Applied Islamology and the Critique of Islamic Reason
• Western Media Distorts the Image of Islam
• Orientalism as a Tool for Critical Study
• Polarization after September Deepens Hostility
• Medieval Closure Entrenched Institutional Ignorance
• Scientific Openness Distinguishes Europe
• Openness Is a Condition for Intellectual Creativity
• Openness to the History of Religions
• The Divide between Islamic and European Histories
• The Scholar-Thinker Goes Beyond Documentation
• The Anthropological History of the Maghreb Has Not Been Written
• Sectarian History Produces a Self-Myth
• Long History Reveals Fundamentalism
• Mediterranean History Needs Radical Critique
• The Shared History of the Monotheistic Religions
• Commerce and the Educated Classes Supported Creativity
• Material Modernization without Intellectual Modernity
• Warning Against Projecting Modernity onto the Past
• Intellectual Liberation Requires Historical Critique
• Linguistic Analysis Deconstructs the Discourse of Power
• Critical Analysis Is a Condition for Liberating Thought
• A Methodological Shift toward the Cognitive Revolution
• Official Compilation Deleted and Preserved
• The Selective Religiosity of Contemporary Fundamentalisms
• Inner Religiosity Is the Basis of Understanding
• Living Tradition Selects, Purifies, and Forgets
• The Shared Mediterranean Heritage
• The Philosophical Translation of Modernity
• Greek Translation and the Reinforcement of Rationality
• Official Religious Education and the Production of Ignorance
• Contemporary Takfir and the Continuation of the Old
• Arab-Islamic Enlightenment Was Linked to Humanism
• The Arab Enlightenment Preceded the European One
• Harmony between the Sharia and Wisdom
• Islamic Tensions Have an Aristotelian Origin
• Al-Tawhidi as a Model of Cultural Synthesis
• Popular Religious Culture Is Rising
• Intellectual Stagnation Began in the Eleventh and Thirteenth Centuries
• Mutual Ignorance Produces Fundamentalism
• European Modernity and Its Great Rupture
• Western Modernity and Politics
• Modernity Granted the Other Legal Dignity
• Superficial Religious Dialogue Avoids the Essentials
• Religious Dialogue Remains Largely Laudatory
• Religious Dialogue Reaffirms Theological Positions
• Polite Dialogue Does Not Stop Fundamentalism
• Dialogue and Hope in the Mediterranean
• Dialogue Needs an Explanation of the Gap
• Religious Discourse Is Closer to Mythos
• Nationalist and Fundamentalist Discourses Hinder Understanding
• Critical Historical Study of Tradition
• The Party State and Monolithic Thought
• The True Religion Produces Mutual Rejection
• Religion between Belief and Non-Belief
• The Central Question of Breaking the Chains
• The Early European-Islamic Conflict
• Commercial Classes Supported Rational Culture
• Arabic Was Humanistic in Expression
• Arabness Has Historically Been an Open Culture
• Ethnic Chauvinism Does Not Represent Arabness
• Philosophical Reason Struggled Against Theological Reason
• Democratic Secularism Guarantees the Independence of Religion
• Secularization Alone Is Not Enough
• The Humanities Are a Tool Against Extremism
• Political Violence Obscures the Moral Question
• Western Violence Is Neglected in Critique
• Violence Is Linked to Modern Hegemony
• The West Has Two Faces
• The West and Responsibility for Decline
• The Gap between the Oral and the Written
• The Asymmetrical Mediterranean Space
• The Mediterranean Space as a Field of Interactions
• An Interdisciplinary Reading of Tradition
• Ruptures Produce Marginalization
• Contemporary Ethics Committees
• Language Shapes the Path of Reason
• Idealizations Do Not Match Reality
• Society Shapes Religion and Culture
• The Educational Path Changed the Dissertation Topic
• Shared Assumptions Preempt Critique
• The Critical Project Is Linked to the Present
• Historical Knowledge Takes Precedence over Theological Positions
• Religious Concepts Are a Historical Social Product
• The Historical Comparison of Religions
• A Comparison between Ibn Abd al-Wahhab and Kant
• The Scientific Method Is Based on Hypotheses
• The Historical-Philological Method
• The Critical Method Reveals What Is Concealed
• The Progressive-Regression Methodology
• A Multiple Methodology for Understanding Islam
• Metaphysics and the Critique of Theology
• Arab Humanism as an Open Rational Culture
• Humanism Has Two Forms
• The Religious Regime of Truth Rejects Pluralism
• Religious Critique Is Seen as an Attack
• Self-Criticism Is Necessary for All Religions
• The Aim of a Critical History of the Qur’an
• Identity after Independence and Fundamentalist Fanaticism
• Mutual Domination Shapes the Image of the Other
• The Arab-Islamic Reality Hinders Free Inquiry
• Cultural Mediation Is Arkoun’s Goal
• Official Wahhabism Is Part of the Nationalization of Islam
• The Extension of Taha Hussein’s Critical Project
• The Spread of Thought through Literature
• The Triumph of Jurists over Philosophers
• The Transfer of Legitimacy to Human Rights
• The Decline of Seljuk Openness
• The Decline of Reason after Early Flourishing
• Bias in Approaches to the Other
• The Separation of Tradition from Modernity and Science
• Orthodox Thought’s Break with Critique
• The Discontinuation of Philosophy after Averroes
• The Late Study of Arab-Islamic Tradition
• Nationalizing Religion Produces Official Orthodoxy
• Justifying Colonialism through Scientific Study
• Liberating Thought through the Modern Sciences
• Liberating Thought and Deconstruction
• Analysis of Qur’anic Discourse
• The Shift in the Meaning of Literature to Its Modern Sense
• The Transformation of the Study of Sacred Texts
• The Lag of Arab-Islamic Culture behind Modernity
• Domestication of Islam Turns Obedience
• The Decline of Philosophy in Arab Milieus
• Translating Religious Texts Changes Them
• The Formation of Religious Texts Is a Long Process
• The Development of Modern Ethics and Science
• Globalization and Fundamentalisms as Obstacles
• Deconstructing Fundamentalism and Revealing Its Roots
• Deconstructing Islamic Presuppositions
• Massignon’s Humility and Openness
• Using Islam for Legitimacy
• Using Religion in Conflicts
• The Triad of Reason and Faith
• Europe’s Scientific Revolutions
• The Rigidity of the Traditional School
• The Freedom of Meaning in the Qur’an
• The Presence of Reason in Islam
• Childhood Experiences Reveal Cultural Difference
• The Disappointment of Intellectual Liberation
• Arkoun’s Cognitive Motivation