Research output
Complete citation
Poljarevic, Emin. Review of Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam: The Muslim Brotherhood, Ashʿarism and Political Sunnism, by Jeffry R. Halverson. Religious Studies Review 42, no. 2 (2016): 128. https://doi.org/10.1111/rsr.12481.
Status
Published (2016)
Publication type
Scholarly book review
Overview
This review assesses Jeffry R. Halverson’s account of modern Sunni theology and his critique of the growing influence of creed-centred Athari thought. The book relates theological method to political Sunnism and the Muslim Brotherhood, asking how modern movements draw upon, simplify, or marginalise classical traditions of rational theology. The review identifies the book’s attempt to recover Ashʿari kalām as an intellectually substantial alternative to antirationalist formulations of creed. It also considers the explanatory risks involved in treating complex theological and movement histories through a sharp contrast between rationalism and scripturalism. The review’s contribution is to place doctrinal argument within modern political and institutional settings while emphasising that disputes over creed are also disputes about religious authority, interpretive method, and the forms of reasoning available in contemporary Sunni Islam.
Research question or central concern
How persuasively does Halverson connect modern political Sunnism and Muslim Brotherhood thought to changes in the balance between Athari creed and Ashʿari theology?
Main argument, approach, and contribution
The review evaluates the book’s intellectual history and its normative defence of rational theology. It recognises the value of connecting creed, political movement, and religious authority while treating broad contrasts between Atharism and Ashʿarism cautiously. Its contribution is to clarify why theological method matters for analyses of contemporary Sunni politics.
Keywords
Sunni theology; Ashʿarism; Atharism; Muslim Brotherhood; kalām; creed; political Sunnism; religious authority
Emin Poljarević 