The Meaning of the Concept in This Book
Mohammed Arkoun distinguishes religious reason as a level of original, open teachings, from its later transformation into a more closed theological-political reason. For him, then, religious reason is not synonymous with dogma, but a broader framework from which conflicting forms of interpretation and authority branch off.
Its Place in the Book’s Argument
The concept appears within an argument that holds that the crisis cannot be understood through the text alone, but through the history of the formation of the reason that reads and interprets it. From here, Arkoun’s notion of religious reason is linked to his distinction from theology, and to the idea that renewing religion requires a critique of the reason that has historically settled into its closed form. It is also connected to comparing trajectories between Islam and the West, to understanding the gap between religious and philosophical reason, and to discussing the hegemony of juridical-theological reason and the rise of theological-political reason.
How It Works Within the Atlas
The concept becomes effective when used to connect disparate themes: distinguishing religious reason from theological reason, reading the Qur’an in a modern way that brings together history and faith, and integrating faith-based readings within a broader critical horizon. It also connects the history of European thought and the history of Islamic thought on the one hand, and what the social sciences and anthropology reveal about the historically unthought on the other. In this sense, the concept functions as a link between historical critique, the analysis of power, and an understanding of the transformations that have made religious reason in some contexts closer to closure than to openness.