Journal of Islamic Law and Culture Vol. 11, No. 3, October 2009, 185–194 ISSN 1528-817X print/ISSN 1753-4534 online © 2009 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/15288171003693470 http://www.informaworld.com Cultural worlds/culture wars: contemporary American Muslim perspectives on the role of culture Marcia Hermansen Theology Department, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago IL, USA Taylor and Francis RILC_A_469869.sgm 10.1080/15288171003693470 Journal of Islamic Law and Culture 1528-817X (print)/1753-4534 (online) Original Article 2009 Taylor & Francis 11 3 000000October 2009 MarciaHermansen mherman@luc.edu This article surveys a range of current America Muslim intellectuals’ positions on the ideal relationship between Islam and culture, using as a starting point the suggestive ideal types laid out in H.R. Niebuhr’s classic work, Christ and Culture. Keywords: American Muslims; Islam and culture; H.R. Niebuhr; Muslim identity In the following article I intend to explore American Muslim perspectives on the inter- action of religion and culture. In order to set the context for this, I will initially draw on some commonalities between Islamic and Christian religious responses to culture, using heuristically the ideal types posited by American theologian, Richard H. Niebuhr in his classic work, Christ and Culture. 1 Today Islam and Christianity are the largest of the world’s religions. As religions that make “universal” claims and appeal to individuals wherever they are found, and as religions with expansionist and impe- rial pasts that span vast regions and continents, the question of cultural elements in intersection with faith has engaged both Christian and Muslim thinkers over sustained periods. At present these debates have taken on new and urgent forms, engaging both inter religious and intra-religious diversity. The term “culture” as used in this paper is a relatively recent concept, and was not used in early scriptures, Christian or Islamic. Their closest equivalent might be the idea of the “world”. The “world” was what needed to be overcome or rejected in favor of allegiance to transcendent or unconditioned reality. This term for the world in this sense in the Arabic language is dunya – literally the lower realm – as opposed to the more neutral term ‘alam – a world as a broad domain or even universe, rather like the Greek cosmos. In the revealed or Abrahamic religious traditions in which God calls on humanity to witness to divine ultimate authority, the potentially seductive or corrupting influ- ence of the world has often been perceived as a threat or distraction from faith. The motif of Abraham’s breaking the idols of his father could be interpreted as a condem- nation of negative or false tradition or culture – those beliefs and practices which the Qur’an disparages as the myths of the ancestors (asatir al-awwalin) that have been subsequently superceded by corrective revelation. In the case of Christianity, Jesus’ call to follow him trumps worldly affairs and alle- giances, including those to family. While Jesus’ permission to render Caesar his due might represent a way to justify political quietism or enable a sense of citizenship that Email: mherman@luc.edu 1 HR Niebuhr, Christ and Culture (Harper, San Francisco 2001) originally published in 1951. Downloaded by [Marcia Hermansen] at 03:14 30 July 2011