Contemporary Islamic thinkers are often studied sociologically rather than as theologians. There are many accessible introductions to Christian theologians, but very few such studies of Islamic thinkers. This book, and this series, seeks to change this situation: offering new introductions to influential Islamic thinkers and engaging, at the level of ideas, with the rich depths of contemporary Islamic theology. This book introduces to the English-speaking world the leading modern Islamic thinker Said Nursi (1878-1960) - who has some nine million followers in modern day Turkey and around the world. After an opening chapter that provides an overview of his life, the next four chapters outline the theology of Nursi on God, the Qur'an, the West and Politics. The final section provides an invaluable resource of readings from Nursi's most important writings. Providing an introduction to a major form of Islam which is committed to non-violence, dialogue and constructive relationships with the West, this is the first student textbook to introduce a contemporary Islamic theologian in a systematic way.

The Nur community is one of the most significant religious and social movements in contemporary Turkey, with millions of adherents and a strong institutional and educational system throughout the country. This volume presents a picture of its spiritual dimensions by focusing on the ideas of its founder, Turkish theologian Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (1877-1960). Prominent scholars in contemporary Islamic studies and comparative spirituality examine the various facets of Nursi's spirituality as revealed in his magnum opus, Risale-i Nur, which began to take shape in the 1920s and is considered Nursi's deep reflection on the Qur'an in light of rapidly changing conditions in Turkey. Nursi argued that Islam must be organically linked to empire in order to preserve its identity in the modern era, fostering a spiritual tradition that has steadfastly survived the secular project of Kemalism. Book jacket.

Islam in Modern Turkey presents one of the most comprehensive studies in English of the seminal Turkish thinker and theologian, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (1876–1960). A devout Muslim who strongly believed in peacefully coexisting with the West, Nursi inspired a faith movement that has played a vital role in the revival of Islam in Turkey and now numbers several million followers worldwide. While Nursi's ideas have been afforded considerable analysis, this book is the first to situate these ideas and his related activities in their historical contexts. Based on the available sources and Nursi's own works, here is a complete and balanced view of this important theologian's life and thought.

Said Nursi (1877-1960) was an advocate of a form of Islam strongly committed to non-violence and constructive engagement with the West and Christianity. He has six million followers - the Nursi community - primarily in Turkey. Yet many in the USA and Europe are not familiar with his important work; this book seeks to rectify that gap. In Globalization, Ethics and Islam, Jewish, Christian and Islamic scholars reflect upon the achievement of Said Nursi and apply his thought to the complex issues of non-violence, dialogue and globalization.

This book analyzes the distinguished modern Muslim scholar Bediuzzaman Said Nursi and the methodology of Qur’anic exegesis in his Risale-i Nur Collection, with special reference to the views of the early Muslim modernist intellectuals such as Muhammad ‘Abduh. It seeks to locate Nursi within modern Qur’anic scholarship, exploring the difference between Nursi’s reading of the Qur’an and that of his counterparts, and examines how Nursi relates the Qur’anic text to concerns of the modern period.

In order to preserve contemporary understandings of the sciences, many figures of the Divine Action Project (DAP) held that God could never violate or suspend a law of nature, causing the marginalization of miracles from scholarly theology–science dialogue. In the first substantive entry of interreligious dialogue on the topic, this book provides fresh, contemporary accounts of Said Nursi and Thomas Aquinas on miracles and science, challenges contemporary noninterventionist presuppositions, and explores rich, untapped avenues in the theology, metaphysics, and epistemology of miracles and laws of science. Through an exploration of Nursi’s Ash’arite, Quranic interpretation of the sciences, and St. Thomas’s neglected doctrine of obediential potency, this volume marshals powerful tools from the world’s two largest religions to elucidate the foundations of God’s interaction with creatures. As well as contributing to the contemporary debate, this volume provides Muslim and Christian readers alike substantive intellectual frameworks in which to think about the sciences from the heart of their own intellectual traditions, while at the same time giving them as alternatives to mainstream contemporary approaches for scientists and other readers engaged in theology–science dialogue.