Newsletter #2

Assalamu ‘alaykum,

I hope you are well as we approach the end of the calendar year.

Online Course: Kitab al-Tawhid (Part 2)

Part 1 was a great success, often feeling like a graduate seminar with a lot of discussion and deep diving into al-Maturidi’s theological system from historical and philosophical angles. Part 2, which is focused on the divine attributes – the heart of kalam – starts on Sunday 4th January, so do jump on board if this sounds interesting to you: https://t.co/3v1eH1NO4w

Published: “Idealizing the Qur’an: A Phenomenological Account of Early Islamic Scriptural Canonization”

I was really pleased to have this article appear in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, which is probably the top journal in the academic field of Religion. What I am really doing in this article is going back to my work from nearly a decade ago on the early transmission of the Qur’an. I read the current scholarly consensus on the factuality of Qur’anic canonization and use phenomenology to extract the “ideal essence of what happened”. Even though there is some serious philosophy in here, I try to explain all the necessary concepts and keep the “so what?” firmly in mind.

In Progress: Divine Wisdom, Human Condition: A Maturidi Theological Anthropology

I am currently nearly at the midpoint of writing my new monograph, which is framed as a sequel to my Transcendent God, Rational World: A Maturidi Theology (2021). This time, I am exploring questions related to the human-divine relationship given a contemporary Maturidi theological framework: what is the human being? How can we act freely? What is our purpose? What about evil? How can we know that God has sent us messengers? Etc. I think this will be a significant book to unravel the implications of the Maturidi theological ideas I have been exploring in various books and articles, and I really like how it is coming together so far. I am aiming to have a first draft ready for review in a year from now. Duas are much appreciated!

All best wishes,

Ramon