Modern Muslim Theology:Engaging God and the World with Faith and Imagination- Dr. Martin Nguyen (CICW Book Talks): CICW Media-April 10,2020

 YouTube Video:

https://www.youtube.com/live/2MUdXva5j68?si=z_wkW5CY5D6fJ9sL

Dr. Martin Nguyen (Professor of Islamic Studies at Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut, USA) is interviewed about his latest book, "Modern Muslim Theology: Engaging God and the World with Faith and Imagination." This book aims to bring Muslim theology into the present day. Focused on the relationship of the human to the divine and of faith to righteousness, the book presents a new theological vision rooted in the practice of the religious imagination. Rather than a purely academic pursuit, Modern Muslim Theology argues that theology is a creative process and discusses how the Islamic tradition can help contemporary practitioners negotiate their relationships with God, with one another, and with the rest of creation. Center for Islam in the Contemporary World (CICW) at Shenandoah University is a non-profit, 501(c)(3), tax-exempt private foundation, affiliated with Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia, USA. You can learn more about CICW at https://www.contemporaryislam.org/.

Host: Ermin Sinanović: Executive Director of the Center for Islam in the Contemporary World (CICW) at Shenandoah University. 

Website of Ermin Sinanović: Scholarship and Policy analysis:The Muslim world
https://www.erminsinanovic.com/

Amazon:Modern Muslim Theology: Engaging God and the World with Faith and Imagination- Martin Nguyen 

https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Muslim-Theology-Engaging-Imagination/dp/153811500X

his book aims to bring Muslim theology into the present day. Focused on the relationship of the human to the divine and of faith to righteousness, the book presents a new theological vision rooted in the practice of the religious imagination. Rather than a purely academic pursuit, Modern Muslim Theology argues that theology is a creative process and discusses how the Islamic tradition can help contemporary practitioners negotiate their relationships with God, with one another, and with the rest of creation. The book re-conceptualizes key religious ideas, symbols, and rites - like revelation, tradition, and prayer - in order to develop an engaged approach to Islam that simultaneously fosters faith and enacts righteousness in the modern world. The theological framework developed within draws widely from the intellectual and spiritual traditions of Islam that stretch from the religion's prophetic past up to the present. With the aim of making the work of theology accessible to all, Modern Muslim Theology uses vivid narratives and evocative images of famous religious personalities, sacred sites, and aspects of everyday life to explore and define concepts central for a theology of engagement.
Review:
“Muslim theology has traditionally been understood as involving doctrines and beliefs, as emphasizing the conceptual and cognitive aspects of the faith. Nguyen (Fairfield Univ.) considers Muslim theology in a different way. He understands it as encompassing all aspects of a believer’s life―the intellectual, emotional, physical, and spiritual elements. He believes Muslim theology should lead people to see their lives as an ongoing response to God involving active engagement with others and society. Nguyen looks at prayer, the Koran, imagination, creativity, Muslim tradition, prostration before God, righteousness in words and actions, and protest. He intends this book for both laypersons and scholars, since he believes that theology should address all believers and not just a small, elite segment of them. Nguyen's fresh approach makes Islam relevant to the present time, in which people are influenced by postmodernism and need to see faith in action and not simply through its doctrines and ideas. Nguyen likely will encounter resistance and criticism from other Muslim scholars, but his creative vision for theology may well have significant influence.
Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.” ―Choice Reviews
“Informed by his deep reading of scripture and the Islamic tradition, as well as his grounding in the academic study of religion, Nguyen offers a theology that is of interest to academics as well as to people of faith, and to those who wish to learn more about Islam regardless of their orientation.” ―Zayn Kassam, Pomona College
“Nguyen successfully inhabits the pastoral voice―the book is as much an intellectual and spiritual reflection as a motivating call to action.” ―Mairaj Syed, University of California, Davis
“This is a courageous and bold voice which brings together the layers of tradition and worship in an engaged conversation on the topic of theological ethics. Learned as well as accessible, Martin Nguyen shows how a lived Islam reflects the ethical life Muslims around the world as well as in America practice and cherish. It is a fascinating search of a scholar and an engaged participant for a Muslim ethical narrative in late modernity.” ―Ebrahim Moosa, professor of Islamic Studies, University of Notre Dame
From the Back Cover:
This book aims to bring Muslim theology into the present day. Rather than a purely academic pursuit, Modern Muslim Theology argues that theology is a creative process and discusses how the Islamic tradition can help contemporary practitioners negotiate their relationships with God, with one another, and with the rest of creation.
About the Author:
Martin Nguyen is Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Faculty Chair for Diversity, and Director of Islamic Studies at Fairfield University. His work revolves around the Qur'an and its interpretation, theology and ethics, Sufism, and the intersection of race and religion.

PDF: Book Review:Faraz Sheikh Assistant Professor of Religious Ethics College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/file:///Users/User/Downloads/Modern+Muslim+Theology-Engaging+God+and+the+World+with+Faith+and+Imagination+(by+Martin+Nguyen).pdf

PDF: Book Review:Amani Khelifa -Journal of Islamic Faith and Practice | Vol. 4, Issue 1

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Article PDF:Faith-Rooted Thinking on Matters of Public Concern: A Muslim Response to William L. Sachs :Martin Nguyen 

https://www.anglicantheologicalreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Nguyen_102.2.pdf

Article: Could the Kaaba Represent Tradition? Martin Nguyen - Renovatio, The Journal of Zaytuna College-Feb6,2018

https://renovatio.zaytuna.edu/article/could-the-kaaba-represent-tradition

"Today, many avenues exist for Muslim communities to pursue the pressing theological questions they face. Unsurprisingly, the doors of possibility opened by the imagination are manifold. Past generations found theological recourse in scholastic theology and in the rhetoric of eschatology. They found it in deep readings of the word of God. They found it in art, poetry, and sacred spaces. They found it in transformative experiences and pious pursuits of many varieties. By what routes of the imagination can theologies be crafted that respond most faithfully and effectively to the religious expectations, lived realities, and salvific aspirations of communities of faith today? Or phrased differently, where will our traditions take us and where will we take our traditions?"