“Postsecular Society and Islam” Now Available from ÜU Press

Üsküdar University Press has brought readers together with the book “Postsecular Society and Islam,” which offers a new interpretation to discussions on social and intellectual transformation. Written by Prof. Bünyamin Duran, the book provides an original and comprehensive evaluation centered on Islamic thought by addressing secularization processes in a multidimensional manner within the framework of postsecular society debates. With a broad perspective extending from his academic studies in Europe to Turkey’s intellectual tradition, Duran contributes to the reinterpretation of the relationship between religion, citizenship, and democratic order in modern societies.

The book, which examines the phenomenon of secularization in detail, has been published by Üsküdar University Press.

During his years in Europe, Prof. Duran took an active role in academic and intellectual platforms on the concept of postsecular society by representing European Muslims. After returning to Turkey, he continued to examine this debate within a broader framework and gave the book a more in-depth structure.

In the book, the phenomenon of secularization is first classified and examined in terms of capitalistic, atheistic, agnostic, and liberal forms of secularization. Subsequently, within the context of liberal secularization, the views of John Rawls and Robert Audi and the criticisms directed at these views are evaluated.

The book also examines in detail the ideas of Jürgen Habermas, one of the most important international authorities on the concept of postsecular society. Habermas’s approach is discussed both theoretically and conceptually, offering the reader a holistic evaluation.

In the final section, Prof. Bünyamin Duran, considering the approaches of Said Nursi, questions the possibility of a constitutional democratic order based on free and equal citizenship within the framework of the Hanafi and Maturidi intellectual tradition.

In this respect, the work stands as an important reference both for modern political theory and for Islamic thought.

Who is Prof. Bünyamin Duran?

Bünyamin Duran was born in 1955 in the village of Pınarkaya in Ereğli, Konya. He completed his primary education in Pınarkaya and his secondary and high school education in Manisa and Akhisar. He graduated from the Faculties of Theology and Economics at Dokuz Eylül University and completed his master’s degree in 1984 and his doctorate in 1988 at the Institute of Social Sciences of the same university.

In March 1985, he was appointed as a Research Assistant at the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences of İnönü University, and in 1988 he was appointed as an Assistant Professor at the same faculty. He received the title of Associate Professor in 1991. In 1993, he founded the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences of Dumlupınar University in Bilecik. Promoted to Professor in 1997, Duran served as the Head of the Department of Economics at the same faculty.

Between 2000 and 2010, Duran served as the Chair of Islamic Philosophy at the Rotterdam Islamic University. In 2010, he became the Head of the Department of Economic History at Manisa Celal Bayar University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences and served as the Head of the Department of Economics between 2017 and 2022.

Duran retired in November 2023 and has authored numerous books and articles on economic history and economic thought.

For the book “Postsecular Society and Islam” please click here.