Reason, Freedom, and Democracy in Islam: Essential Writings of Abdolkarim Soroush

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 256 pages
• Published by: Oxford University Press, USA October 10, 2002
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0195158202
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0195158205
• Book Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 0.6 inches
• Weighs: 13 ounces

Product Review
For a clearer understanding of the enormous implications of [the modernisation of the Islamic Republic] for Iranian society, and, arguably, the Islamic world in general, one can do no better than scrutinize the writings of Abdolkarim Soroush translated and edited by Ahmad and Mahmoud Sadri Soroush has provided the reformist movement in Iran with ah intellectual depth and sophistication which have arguably allowed it to sustain, and resist, the many political pressures which have been brought to bear upon it by its opponents. Ali Ansari, Times Literary Supplement --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Review

"This selection of [Khatami's] writings reveals a genuinely liberal intellect rooted in Soroush's Iranian and Islamic culture but at home with Western thoughthis statements are penetrating and coherent." --Foreign Affairs
",,,the major significance of these writings is the manner in which Western ideas of the prominence of reason on the one hand and a judgment of the intellectual hopelessness of post-modernism on the other hand leads to the affirmation of belief."--Middle East Studies Association Bulletin
"Soroush's call for the unabashed application of reason to all the problems of the Muslim community is a profoundly liberating approach to religious and intellectual modernization."--Social Epistemology Journal of Knowledge, Culture, & Policy


Reader Reviews
This review is from: Reason, Freedom, and Democracy in Islam: Essential Writings of Abdolkarim Soroush (Hardcover) Undoubtedly, this text constitutes an essential contribution to the discourse of ideological resistance within contemporary Iranian society. Soroush, as a phenomenally visible public intellectual, has commanded an unrivaled status among those more conservative participants in the revolutionary cause, although the extent to which his writings can potentially incite a tangible political movement remains to be seen. With respect to this particular compilation, the exercise of translation is certainly exceptional and the readability with which the inherent complexity of Soroush's fusion of Islamic theology and modern philosophy is conveyed throughout the course of the book proves admirable. Nevertheless, this text warrants one primary criticism in that it fails to provide a theoretical contextualization of Soroush's thoughts amidst the aftermath of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. More precisely, there is a definite need for further elaboration on the relationship of Soroush's intellectual contributions to the socioeconomic and cultural state of Iran as we now confront it, the nation's stace vis a vis the project of modernity, and the global marginalization which the country has been compelled to endure at the hands of an authoritarian theocratic apparatus.