PROF. DR. HIKMET YAMAN:
Graduated from Marmara University Faculty of Theology in Istanbul Turkey (1997). He moved to the USA to pursue his graduate studies. He completed his MA (2001) and PhD (2008) in Arabic and Islamic Studies at Harvard University. He taught at Harvard University (2002-2008) and Middlebury College (2003-2004) in the USA and Ankara University (2009-2013) in Turkey. He is currently teaching as Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Marmara University Faculty of Theology. He is the head of the Theology in English Program under this Faculty. He is the recepient of numerous academic awards and honors at both national and international levels.
Prof. Yaman writes and speaks on scholarly subjects such as philosophy, religion, science, metaphysics, spirituality, Sufism, literature, comparative intellectual history, and civilizational communications. He is an active member of international scholarly community to promote religious and intellectual communications across the globe. He has published on philosophical and mystical epistemologies in Islamic thought. His puplications include Prophetic Niche in the Virtuous City (Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2011).
ABSTRUCT TEACHING HUMANITIES IN INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER RELIGIOUS STUDIES: THE TURKISH EXPERIENCE
In this presentation I will concentrate on the current academic situation in Türkiyein relation to the teaching of the humanities in institutions of higher theological and religious studies. In this context, I will analyze the position of the humanities in Turkish institutions of higher religious education in general and faculties of theology in particular. The curricula of the faculties of theology in Türkiye have gone through various updates during the last decades in line with the global academic developments in various fields of religious studies. A good number of theories have been formulatedto analyze the essence, origin, description, function, language, and comparison of religions from diverse perspectives of religious, historical, philosophical, legal, and social studies. Turkish institutions of higher theological and religious education have made substantial efforts to improve their curricula in accordance with theoretical and practical needs of Turkish and international academic circles. Turkish faculties of theology and religious studies have played important roles in the academic teaching of Islamic and religious scholarly disciplines by integrating the traditional spirit of the classical Islamic disciplines with modern intellectual studies on Islam and other religions of the world. They provide this education by contextualizing Islamic studies within the broader field of social sciences and the humanities, and thus harmoniously blends modern academic disciplines with traditional scholarly fields within an international network of scholars. They aim to consolidate the training of students of religious studies and to develop their analytical and critical skills in scholarship. The courses at the Turkish faculties of theology are generally designed around three fundamental programs: Basic Islamic Studies, Philosophy and Religious Studies, and Islamic History and Arts. The program of Basic Islamic Studies offers courses on classical Islamic disciplines such as on Qur’anic Recitation, Qur’anic Exegesis, Hadith, Islamic Jurisprudence, Kalām, History of Islamic Sects, Sufism, and Arabic Language and Rhetoric. The program of Philosophy and Religious Studies offers courses on a wide range of intellectual fields that include History of Philosophy, Islamic Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, Logic, History of Religions, Sociology of Religion, Psychology of Religion, and Religious Education. With all these courses the program aims at enabling its students to develop multiple analytical and critical methods and skills to attain a comprehensive understanding of the historical development of philosophical thought, the intellectual trends in Islamic and Western thought, the interaction between Islamic and Western thought, the nature of religion, the relation between reason and revelation, the beginning of religions and diverse creeds, the manifestations of religion in social and individual life, the methods and rules for thinking correctly, and of the history of religious education and its position in contemporary educational systems. As for the program of Islamic History and Arts, it offers courses on central themes relating to political, social, cultural, literary, and artistic developments over the long years of Islamic history. It addresses various topics related to Islamic History, History of Turkish-Islamic Arts, Turkish-Islamic Literature, and Turkish Religious Music. With all these units,the curricula of faculties of theology in Türkiye aim at improving the capacities of students with respect to their spiritual awareness, social integration, cultural sensitivity, and good morals from the perspective of religious education as a social science and in the context of intercultural and interreligious understanding. And in my presentation, I will explain the interdisciplinary nature and intellectual dynamics of the curricula of the faculties of theology inTürkiye.
