Modern Muslim Theology: Engaging God and the World with Faith and Imagination (Religion in the Modern World)

This book aims to bring Muslim theology into the present day. Focused on the relationship of the human to the divine and of faith to righteousness, the book presents a new theological vision rooted in the practice of the religious imagination. Rather than a purely academic pursuit, Modern Muslim Theology argues that theology is a creative process and discusses how the Islamic tradition can help contemporary practitioners negotiate their relationships with God, with one another, and with the rest of creation. The book re-conceptualizes key religious ideas, symbols, and rites - like revelation, tradition, and prayer - in order to develop an engaged approach to Islam that simultaneously fosters faith and enacts righteousness in the modern world. The theological framework developed within draws widely from the intellectual and spiritual traditions of Islam that stretch from the religion's prophetic past up to the present. With the aim of making the work of theology accessible to all, Modern Muslim Theology uses vivid narratives and evocative images of famous religious personalities, sacred sites, and aspects of everyday life to explore and define concepts central for a theology of engagement.