ABSTRACT
To attempt, as I do in the pages that follow, a sketch of the state-of-the-art in the academic study of classical Islamic theology at the dawn of the twenty- first century is a daunting task. Although in Western contexts, it remains the conclave of a rather small number of researchers, the field has grown to remarkable proportions. Specialists are armed to the teeth with technical and historical particulars. Therefore any survey, including the present one, must by definition be selective and incomplete. However, I believe that if scholars of Islam want to overcome what has recently been characterised as their “ghettoized” position within the broader field of the study of religion (Elias 2010a, 2), they ought to welcome meta-critical reflections on the genealogy and current configuration of the discipline within which they operate. It is in this spirit that I offer the following thoughts, building upon my own recent readings in scholarship on classical Islamic theology.
