Abdolkarim Soroush is one of the most influential religious thinkers to emerge from
post-revolutionary Iran. He is an influential
proponent of kalam-e no or “new theology,”
which explores new ways of secularism
beyond the politicized and revolutionary
forms of religion that marked the Islamic
Revolution. From November 2006 through
September 2007, Soroush stayed in the
Netherlands as ISIM Visiting Professor
at Free University Amsterdam.
Just prior to Soroush’s departure from
the Netherlands, Michiel Leezenberg
talked with him about the philosophical
origins and dimensions of modernity
in the Islamic world. Soroush
opened with some of his impressions
of the Dutch public debate on Islam,
democracy, and secularism.
Read the interview: