
The Ohio State University Center for the Study of Religion presents
Religions of the World: Past and Present, Community Lecture Series 2017-2018
"Has the Islamic 'Reformation' Already Happened?: Reformist Thought and the Beginning of Islamic Modernity"
Professor Sean Anthony of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures will deliver the second talk in the 2017-2018 Community Lecture series.
ABSTRACT: Public discourse on Islam often opines that Islam still stands in need of a Reformation along the lines that of European Christianity. What this discourse misses, however, is that early modern Muslim societies did witness the rise of Reformist thought. This talk examines the most important Sunni expression of Reformist thought in modern Sunni Islam – Salafism – and explores some of the reasons why it failed to achieve much of its political program and reformist aims.