The secular bias in ideology studies and the case of Islamism

Bibliographic Data

ID6293231
AuthorsMichaelle Browers (0000-0002-7174-2330, corresponding author), Michaelle L Browers
Year2005
Volume10
Issue1
Pages75-93
Publication date2005-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Political Ideologies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1356-9317 • E-ISSN: 1469-9613
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1356931052000310254
OpenAlexW1979825965
LanguageEN
Citations received3

The conceptualization of ideology within a largely secularized Christian context has impeded understandings of both the ideological force and function of religion in non-Christian contexts in general (though arguably in modern Christian contexts as well) and the distinctiveness of the ideas that animate contemporary Islamism in particular. This article first critically examines the limitations of sharp demarcations such studies assert between ideologies (which are defined as political, action-orientated and intimately tied to modernity) and religions (which are dismissed as otherworldly, conservative and anti-modern). Focusing on the embrace of the role of reason, human agency and other aspects of modernity, and the emphasis on theological-political unity, which form important aspects of the Islamic tradition, the second part of this article explores Islam's role as a the basis for a comprehensive worldview that meets accepted definitions of a modern ideology. The preliminary sketch of Islamism offered co

Agency (philosophy · Conceptualization · Context (archaeology · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Ideology · Islam · Modernity · Optimal distinctiveness theory · Political science · Politics · Secularization · Social science · Sociology · Theology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · History · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious studies · Social Psychology

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