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OCTOBER 24-25, 2011Dolan Science Center

John Carroll University

Challenges to Contemporary Islam:

The Muslim World 100 Years After Nursi’s Damascus Sermon

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NURSI CONFERENCE FALL 2011

REGISTRATION

Name __________________________________

Address ________________________________

_______________________________________

Phone __________________________________

Email __________________________________

Registration Fee: $20 (includes light lunch on October 24 and 25)

Enclose check and mail to:The Nursi Chair in Islamic Studies Department of Theology and Religious Studies20700 North Park Blvd. University Heights, Ohio 44118

Or register online at: sites.jcu.edu/nursichair/

For more information call 216.397.6279

The Bediuzzaman Said Nursi Chair in Islamic Studies at John Carroll University is pleased to invite you to the Fall 2011 conference on the occasion of the centennial anniversary of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi’s Damascus sermon.

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi is one of the most influential personalities in the modern history of Turkey. Born in 1876, Nursi lived in a time of substantial socio-political change, including the era of the Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II, Mesrutiyet. He gave his famous sermon, known as “Damascus Sermon,” in October of 1911. In the late period of the Ottoman Empire, he was appointed as a member of Dar al-Hikmah al-Islamiyyah, the highest religious institution in the state. In 1950, Nursi reviewed the sermon and translated it into Turkish with some new additions. Nursi elaborated on the problems of the Islamic world and presented remedies in his sermon. After the establishment of modern Turkey, he was incarcerated without conviction for over 30 years. In 1960 when he died, the New York Times estimated his followers to be approximately 1 million. Nursi is somewhat controversial, and yet his writings remain highly influential in the Turkish speaking-world today.

This conference aims to shed light on Nursi’s views of the problems of the Islamic world and assessing his remedies in light of his Damascus sermon.

For more information: Zeki Saritoprak, Ph.D. Nursi Chair in Islamic Studies

Phone: 216.397.6279 E-mail: nursi@jcu.edu Website: sites.jcu.edu/nursichair/

John Carroll University 20700 North Park Boulevard University Heights, OH 44118

OCTOBER 24-25, 2011, Dolan Science Center, John Carroll University

Challenges to Contemporary Islam: The Muslim World 100 Years After Nursi’s Damascus SermonMonday, October 24

Panel 1 MUSLIM CHRISTIAN RELATIONSHIPS 9-11:30 a.m.MODERATOR: Dr. Edward P. Hahnenberg, Professor, John Carroll University

Dr. Sidney Griffith, Professor, The Catholic University of America, “Nursi’s Damascus Sermon: A Christian’s Reading on its 100th Anniversary”

Dr. Lisa Hess, Associate Professor, United Theological Seminary, “A New Muslim-Christian Companionship? Nursi and Chalcedonian Contributions to Belief, Science, and Light in a Shared World”

Dr. Thomas Michel, Professor, John Carroll University, “Said Nursi’s Theology of Hope and the State of Societies Today”

Dr. Ebrahim Moosa, Professor, Duke University, “Love in Counterpoints: Ghazali and Nursi Reconsidered”

Rev. Dr. Marten de Vries, Director, Het Kruispunt, “The Future of Muslim Christian Relations in Light of Nursi’s Damascus Sermon”

Panel 3 POLITICAL PERSPECTIVES 3:15-4:45 p.m.

MODERATOR: Dr. Pete Moore, Associate Professor, Case Western Reserve University

Dr. Vincent J. Cornell,Professor, Emory University, “Islam and Democracy in Light of Nursi’s Understanding of Consultation”

Dr. Ramazan Kilinc, Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska-Omaha, “Islam and Underdevelopment: A Critical Dialogue Between Nursi and Contemporary Scholars”

Mr. Doug Penhallegon, Ph.D. Candidate, Kent State University, “The Life and Death of the “Clash” Narrative for Islamic-Western Relations, 1990-2011”

Dr. Mustafa Tuna, Assistant Professor, Duke University, Reconciling Observation with Revelation: Nursi’s Reading of the “Book of the Universe” and a Paradigmatic Shift in the Islamic Tradition”

Panel 2 MORAL PERSPECTIVES 12:45-2:45 p.m.MODERATOR: Dr. Paul Lauritzen, Professor, John Carroll University

Dr. Mucahit Bilici, Assistant Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, “Division of Spiritual Labor and the Notion of Collective Personality in Said Nursi”

Dr. Alan Godlas, Associate Professor, University of Georgia, “Resources for Enhancing Emotional Intelligence in the Work of Said Nursi, with Particular Reference to the Damascus Sermon”

Dr. Hasan Horkuc, Research Fellow, Durham University, “Yesterday and Today: Nursi’s Damascus Sermon and its Applicability”

Dr. Faris Kaya, Director, Istanbul Foundation for Science and Culture, “The Concept of Morality in Light of Nursi’s Writings”

Dr. Zeki Saripotrak, Associate Professor, John Carroll University, “‘Is Human Innately Good?’ Nursi’s Theology of Human Nature”

Tuesday, October 25Panel 4 SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES 9-11 a.m. MODERATOR: Dr. Stephen Cory, Associate Professor, Cleveland State University

Mr. Kerim Balci, Editor-in-chief, Turkish Review “Two Damascus Sermons: A hermeneutical study comparing the Arabic sermon preached in 1911 and the Turkish book published in 1951”

Dr. Mustafa Gokcek, Assistant Professor, Niagara University, “Nationalism and Islam within the Late Ottoman Intellectual Debates in Light of Nursi’s Writings”

Mr. Ozgur Koca, Ph.D. Candidate, Claremont Graduate University “Said Nursi’s Metaphysics of Action: The Ontology of the Divine Self-Disclosure and the All Pervasive Movement (Faaliyet-i Daime)”

Dr. Irfan Omar, Associate Professor, Marquette University, “Journeying into the Faith of the Other: Interreligious Encounter as a Means to Self-realization”

Dr. Ahmet Yukleyen, Assistant Professor, University of Mississippi, “Religious Toleration and the Nur Movement”