TITLE: Sacred Truth and Secular Agency: Shari'ah Norms and Political Enforcement
SPEAKER: Lamin Sanneh
EVENT DATE: 04/07/2005
FORMAT: Video + Captions
RUNNING TIME: 47 minutes
DESCRIPTION:
Lamin Sanneh, holder of the Chair of Countries and Cultures of the South at the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress and D. Willis James Professor of Missions & World Christianity and professor of history at Yale University, discussed "Sacred Truth and Secular Agency: Shari'ah Norms and Political Enforcement" on Thursday, April 7, 2005 at the Library of Congress. In the current debate occurring within the Muslim world, there are differences of opinion about the role and identity of Islamic states as well as their future direction. According to Sanneh, Islamic fundamentalists blame national secular states for fragmenting contemporary Muslim global identity, which is leading to the West's worldwide domination. Also, moderates, among them many of the leading jurists in Islam, have adopted a middle course by distinguishing "sacred truth" from "secular agency."
Speaker Biography: In addition to his position as Chair of Countries and Cultures at the Kluge Center, Lamin Sanneh is professor of history and D. Willis James Professor of World Christianity at Yale University. He has written a number of books related to religion in Africa, including "Whose Religion Is Christianity?: The Gospel Beyond the West" and "The Crown and the Turban: Muslims and West African Pluralism."
