Secularism and Revivalism in Turkey: A Hermeneutic Reconsideration (Yale Studies in Hermeneutics) [Hardcover]

Assistant Professor Andrew Davison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 11, 1998 | Series: Yale Studies in Hermeneutics

In this new interpretation of the modernization and secularization of Turkey, Andrew Davison demonstrates the usefulness of hermeneutics in political analysis. A hermeneutic approach, he argues, is essential in understanding the complex relations between politics and religion in post-Ottoman Turkey-and, more broadly, between politics and matters of culture throughout the modern world.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Davison (political science, Vassar Coll.) applies hermeneutic principles to illuminate the resurgence of religious influence in what was secular politics, using Turkey as his example. Davison applies his cross-disciplinary textual analysis first to the ideas of Turkish nationalist Ziya Gokalp (1876-1924), who believed that Turkey could modernize without threatening its Islamic traditions, and then to the beliefs and practices of the Turkish nationalist wing that believed that only by pursuing a laicist policy could Turkey be modernized. Under the leadership of Kemal Ataturk, that laicist wing would emerge victorious. The current challenge to the secular Turkish government, the rise of theopolitics, can therefore be seen not as a failure of secular institutions but rather as the continuation of the debate on whether and how to integrate Islam into the fabric of Turkish institutional life. This book presupposes some knowledge of hermeneutics and is recommended for academic libraries with collections in this area.?Robert J. Andrews, Duluth P.L., MN
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (August 11, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300069367
• ISBN-13: 978-0300069365
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,949,276 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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