Description
Book SynopsisGod and Man in Tehran explores the historical processes that have made and unmade contending visions of God in Iran’s capital. Hossein Kamaly examines how notions of the divine have been mobilized, contested, and transformed, emphasizing the role played by divergent conceptualizations of nature, reason, law, morality, and authority.
Trade ReviewA truly admirable synthesis of intellectual and religious history. * Journal of Religious History *
The book is well written and researched, and will be an important resource for those interested in Islam in Iran. * Choice *
Hossein Kamaly's new book
God and Man in Tehran represents a major event that should be and can be read profitably by those wishing to make sense of the intellectual roots of modern Iran as well as working through the dynamics and complexities of the Safavid period. * Hikmat: Texts *
Hossein Kamaly is a scholar of unrivaled learning, a writer of quiet elegance. In his
God and Man in Tehran he has written an exquisite rarity: An urban history of Almighty God. An earthly theology emerges from his capable hands that will make you hear the voice of God from the elegant urbanity of a nation. An utter delight to read! -- Hamid Dabashi
From the dawning of modernity around 1800 to the present,
God and Man in Tehran expertly describes the diversity of reactions among Iranians to ideas in both their own tradition of learning and imported learning from the western world. Kamaly’s extremely wide reading in primary sources in Persian, Arabic, French, and other languages enables him to describe these reactions in a wide range of cultural modes from poetry to scientific texts. -- Roy Mottahedeh
A masterful mapping of the intellectual and spiritual currents that roiled Iran's capital for a century and a half before bursting forth in the Iranian Revolution. -- Richard Bulliet
God and Man in Tehran is undoubtedly a valuable contribution to Iranian Studies. * Reading Religion *
Table of ContentsPreface
Acknowledgments
On Transliteration and Dates
1. O God, O Heaven, O Nature
2. Mediatory Theology and Its Discontents
3. God with Us
4. The Law: God’s and Man’s
5.
Falsafeh and the Madraseh
6. Sufism Returns, and with a Vengeance
7. Varieties of Skeptical Expression
Appendix: Electronic Resources
Notes
References
Index
