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Irene Kirchner
Georgetown University
Occupation
Graduate Student (Doctoral)
Contact
ABOUT
I obtained my Magister Artium degree (German Master’s degree) in literature, philosophy and Islamic studies in 2014, and then went on to pursue a Ph.D. in the department of Oriental and Islamic Studies at the University of Tuebingen, Germany. My dissertation titled “Pacifist readings of the Quran in the contemporary Muslim debate of Political Islam” aims at identifying contemporary Muslim authors who formulate concepts of a nonviolent Islam and who fundamentally controvert a militant interpretation of jihad. It analyzes which argumentational strategies are employed in their efforts to pacify political Islam, with a particular focus on their use of Qur’anic verses to legitimize their arguments in contrast to classical interpretations in the Qur’anic exegesis (tafsi?r). The dynamic between religion and politics has intrigued me since 2004, when I lived and worked in Egypt. My areas of interest include interdependency of religion and politics, how theological debates are used to legitimize political activities, and prepare and influence political strategies that are reciprocally influenced by political movements and propaganda.
Discipline
Religious Studies/Theology
Sub Areas
Islamic Studies
19th-21st Centuries
Arab Studies
Islamic Thought
Islamic Law
Middle East/Near East Studies
Peace Studies
Geographic Areas of Interest
All Middle East
Arab States
Islamic World
Specialties
Reformist Islam
Nonviolence In Islam
Political Islam
Languages
Arabic (advanced)
English (fluent)
German (native)
Latin (intermediate)
Persian (intermediate)
French (fluent)
Spanish (advanced)
Education
MA | 2014 | Islamic Studies | University of Tuebingen, Germany
Abstracts
What is a Forgery? Ibn al-Jawzī’s Kitab al-Mawḍūʿāt and the Evolution of a Genre