New Book – The House of Service: The Gülen Movement and Islam’s Third Way (New York: Oxford University Press)

Turkish Islamic Scholar Fethullah Gülen. (Photo: Cihan)
Turkish Islamic Scholar Fethullah Gülen. (Photo: Cihan)


Date posted: May 12, 2014

by David Tittensor

 

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce the publication of my new book with OUP entitled The House of Service: The Gülen Movement and Islam’s Third Way, which may be of some interest. The blurb reads:

David Tittensor offers a groundbreaking new perspective on the Gülen movement, a Turkish Muslim educational activist network that emerged in the 1960s and has grown into a global empire with an estimated worth of $25 billion. Named after its leader Fethullah Gülen, the movement has established more than 1,000 secular educational institutions in over 140 countries, aiming to provide holistic education that incorporates both spirituality and the secular sciences.

Despite the movement’s success, little is known about how its schools are run, or how Islam is operationalized. Drawing on thirteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in Turkey, Tittensor explores the movement’s ideo-theology and how it is practiced in the schools. His interviews with both teachers and graduates from Africa, Indonesia, Central Asia, and Turkey show that the movement is a missionary organization, but of a singular kind: its goal is not simply widespread religious conversion, but a quest to recoup those Muslims who have apparently lost their way and to show non-Muslims that Muslims can embrace modernity and integrate into the wider community. Tittensor also examines the movement’s operational side and shows how the schools represent an example of Mohammad Yunus’s social business model: a business with a social cause at its heart.

The House of Service is an insightful exploration of one of the world’s largest transnational Muslim associations, and will be invaluable for those seeking to understand how Islam will be perceived and practiced in the future.

For more information please visit the OUP website at:

http://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-house-of-service-9780199336418;jsessionid=E4169…

Best regards,

David Tittensor

Deakin University

Source: networks , May 11, 2014


Related News

U.S. State Department, Citing Security, Suspends [Fulbright] Teaching Program in Turkey

In the wake of the coup attempt, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has conducted widespread purges of perceived adversaries. As a result, every university dean in Turkey was forced to resign. Some experts have raised questions about whether the university system will be able to function. The ripple effects to American academics are just starting to emerge.

As Turkey’s war on Gulen escalates, so does impact on Africa

While critics say that Gülen is at best a cult figure, he is considered by many the legitimate spiritual leader of an Islamic movement that is focused on humanitarian service – hence the common name Hizmet – as well as interfaith dialogue and education.

Nigerian vice-ambassador demands more Turkish schools in his country

“Students, parents and our state are all very much pleased with these schools. We have a population of 170 million and the young generation constitutes a large part of it. So, we demand more of these schools. They are empowering the Nigerian education system as well. They are in demand. Their graduates are able to study at leading universities in Turkey. Affiliates of these schools are operating not only in my country but also around the world.”

Nine-year-old beats 25,000 others in Maths competition

A NINE-year-old pupil of the Nigerian Turkish School, Abuja, Adeoluwa Adetoba, has emerged winner of the 2015 edition of the National Mathematics Competition.

Hizmet and self-criticism

Fethullah Gülen stated a few days ago that he made a mistake by supporting the Justice and Development Party (AKP) during the 2010 referendum campaign. Even though, as of today, I do not think that supporting the constitutional amendment package was wrong in itself, it seems that this package has paved the way for the AKP’s growing semi-despotism.

Turkey’s anti-Gulen crackdown continues with Yemeni students after Nigerians

Turkish authorities have deported 5 Yemeni students at official universities which the authorities have recently shut down for links with US-based Muslim cleric, Fethullah Gulen. Tens of Yemeni students in Turkey are facing the risk of deportation for being students at universities administered by Fethullah Gulen’s movement.

Latest News

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

Turkey introduces new decree law to seize all Gulen-related companies

ISPO becomes Turkish schools’ success story in Indonesia

Rumi Forum bestows Peace and Dialogue Awards

Pakistani Education Minister hails Turkish schools

Peace Islands Honors Noteworthy NJ Residents

Turning wedding excess into act of charity

The Turkish Connection: Pak-Turk Schools

Copyright 2023 Hizmet News