Muslim Identities - An Introduction to Islam Second Edition - Aaron W. Hughes
10. Encounters with Modernity
Muslim Identities - An Introduction to Islam Second Edition - Aaron W. Hughes
Aaron W. Hughes [+]
University of Rochester
Aaron W. Hughes is the Dean’s Professor of the Humanities and the Philip S. Bernstein Professor in the Department of Religion and Classics at the University of Rochester. His research and publications focus on both Jewish philosophy and Islamic Studies. He has authored numerous books, including Situating Islam: The Past and Future of an Academic Discipline (Equinox, 2007); Theorizing Islam: Disciplinary Deconstruction and Reconstruction (Equinox, 2012); Muslim Identities: An Introduction to Islam (Columbia, 2012); and Abrahamic Religions: On the Uses and Abuses of History (Oxford, 2012). He currently serves as the editor of the journal Method and Theory in the Study of Religion.
Description
After providing a set of definitions to understand the rather vague concept of “modernity,” this chapter seeks to discuss how Islam has responded to modernity using a framework that involves “maximalism” and “minimalism.” The former seeks to assert Islamic values to confront what are perceived to be the pernicious influence of the modern world. The latter, by contrast, often seeks to accommodate certain aspects of the tradition to modernity. This framework helps us to appreciate that there is no simple Islamic response, but sets of responses. These include nationalist, so-called fundamentalist, and modernist approaches.