The original English language version of an article published in the July 2015 edition of Turkish... more The original English language version of an article published in the July 2015 edition of Turkish language magazine Sabah Ulkesi - a special edition on cosmopolitanism.
Special issue - on cosmopolitanism - of the Turkish magazine Sabah ülkesi, featuring a Turkish tr... more Special issue - on cosmopolitanism - of the Turkish magazine Sabah ülkesi, featuring a Turkish translation of my essay on 'Islamic cosmopolitanism' and work by Talisker Donhaue and others.
My MA dissertation for SOAS University of London
Building on the growing interest in Ottoman Cos... more My MA dissertation for SOAS University of London
Building on the growing interest in Ottoman Cosmopolitanism this dissertation investigates the scholarship of the term and applies cosmopolitan theory to the case study of Jerusalem in the late Ottoman period. This establishes what kinds of cosmopolitanism are relevant to the study of the late Ottoman Empire and what contexts they arise in.
The question over whether the Muslims of the early period developed their theology and its proces... more The question over whether the Muslims of the early period developed their theology and its processes internally or by adopting, not only linguistic formulae but rational enquiry as a practice, from their intellectually agile neighbours has stimulated scholarly debate for many years. 1 The question has become inextricably linked with the Mu'tazilite school which promulgated the necessity not only of strict monotheism but also of the exercise of human rationality as a pathway to salvation. It also, by establishing the Qur'an as a 'this-worldly' creation, gave credence to notions of scriptural analysis and a critical method in interpretation and theology that was, and has since become, at odds with conservative Islam. In his paper on Mu'tazilite Ethics Hourani 2 called for a new approach into the discussion of 'origins' which deals with one specific aspect of theological enquiry at a time and, to that end, this paper will introduce Mu'tazilite notions of the soul through the lens of the philosophy of al-Kindi. I am, here, placing al-Kindi squarely within the Mu'tazilite school as not only did he function during period of its greatest institutional success, through Caliphal sponsorship, but his content reflects the broad discussions of the Mu'tazilite thinkers. In addition his attempts to rationalise doctrine by using falsafa represent a fully articulated notion of Mu'tazilite kalam as a logical process of scriptural and spiritual logical examination.
The quest for the 'Origins of Religion', which so characterised early scholarship in the field of... more The quest for the 'Origins of Religion', which so characterised early scholarship in the field of religious studies as opposed to Theology, has, on the whole, become outdated and, seemingly, destined to fail under scrutiny fed by an exponentially growing library of anthropological data and independent human experience; theories of origins claiming universality do not stand up to the test of modern scholarly practice. Yet the ideas of the early theorists concerning the development of religion in man still hold considerable power. Such theories are inherently bound up with the post-Darwinian age, informed by the knowledge that all life on Earth is connected to a primordial originating form coupled with philological advances concerning the ancestry of the Indo-European language family. Thus religion, as an observable human phenomena, was thought to be reducable to a primal state or a necessary, universal, characteristic of humanity. As Stark and Bainbridge noted, "Available 'theories' about religion remain largely the product of 19 th century social thought and the tradition of grand theory… but… close scrutiny reveals that these theories are not so grand… classics such as Emile Durkheim's 'The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life' [and Sigmund Freud's Totem and Taboo] could be excerpted on a few printed pages. The rest is illustration and digression." 1
The original English language version of an article published in the July 2015 edition of Turkish... more The original English language version of an article published in the July 2015 edition of Turkish language magazine Sabah Ulkesi - a special edition on cosmopolitanism.
Special issue - on cosmopolitanism - of the Turkish magazine Sabah ülkesi, featuring a Turkish tr... more Special issue - on cosmopolitanism - of the Turkish magazine Sabah ülkesi, featuring a Turkish translation of my essay on 'Islamic cosmopolitanism' and work by Talisker Donhaue and others.
My MA dissertation for SOAS University of London
Building on the growing interest in Ottoman Cos... more My MA dissertation for SOAS University of London
Building on the growing interest in Ottoman Cosmopolitanism this dissertation investigates the scholarship of the term and applies cosmopolitan theory to the case study of Jerusalem in the late Ottoman period. This establishes what kinds of cosmopolitanism are relevant to the study of the late Ottoman Empire and what contexts they arise in.
The question over whether the Muslims of the early period developed their theology and its proces... more The question over whether the Muslims of the early period developed their theology and its processes internally or by adopting, not only linguistic formulae but rational enquiry as a practice, from their intellectually agile neighbours has stimulated scholarly debate for many years. 1 The question has become inextricably linked with the Mu'tazilite school which promulgated the necessity not only of strict monotheism but also of the exercise of human rationality as a pathway to salvation. It also, by establishing the Qur'an as a 'this-worldly' creation, gave credence to notions of scriptural analysis and a critical method in interpretation and theology that was, and has since become, at odds with conservative Islam. In his paper on Mu'tazilite Ethics Hourani 2 called for a new approach into the discussion of 'origins' which deals with one specific aspect of theological enquiry at a time and, to that end, this paper will introduce Mu'tazilite notions of the soul through the lens of the philosophy of al-Kindi. I am, here, placing al-Kindi squarely within the Mu'tazilite school as not only did he function during period of its greatest institutional success, through Caliphal sponsorship, but his content reflects the broad discussions of the Mu'tazilite thinkers. In addition his attempts to rationalise doctrine by using falsafa represent a fully articulated notion of Mu'tazilite kalam as a logical process of scriptural and spiritual logical examination.
The quest for the 'Origins of Religion', which so characterised early scholarship in the field of... more The quest for the 'Origins of Religion', which so characterised early scholarship in the field of religious studies as opposed to Theology, has, on the whole, become outdated and, seemingly, destined to fail under scrutiny fed by an exponentially growing library of anthropological data and independent human experience; theories of origins claiming universality do not stand up to the test of modern scholarly practice. Yet the ideas of the early theorists concerning the development of religion in man still hold considerable power. Such theories are inherently bound up with the post-Darwinian age, informed by the knowledge that all life on Earth is connected to a primordial originating form coupled with philological advances concerning the ancestry of the Indo-European language family. Thus religion, as an observable human phenomena, was thought to be reducable to a primal state or a necessary, universal, characteristic of humanity. As Stark and Bainbridge noted, "Available 'theories' about religion remain largely the product of 19 th century social thought and the tradition of grand theory… but… close scrutiny reveals that these theories are not so grand… classics such as Emile Durkheim's 'The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life' [and Sigmund Freud's Totem and Taboo] could be excerpted on a few printed pages. The rest is illustration and digression." 1
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Papers by Tal Donahue
Building on the growing interest in Ottoman Cosmopolitanism this dissertation investigates the scholarship of the term and applies cosmopolitan theory to the case study of Jerusalem in the late Ottoman period. This establishes what kinds of cosmopolitanism are relevant to the study of the late Ottoman Empire and what contexts they arise in.
Building on the growing interest in Ottoman Cosmopolitanism this dissertation investigates the scholarship of the term and applies cosmopolitan theory to the case study of Jerusalem in the late Ottoman period. This establishes what kinds of cosmopolitanism are relevant to the study of the late Ottoman Empire and what contexts they arise in.