When The Grand National Assembly was debating on the foundation of the first theology department in Turkey, a representative warns the minister of education about the decision and states “the struggle between mektep (school) and madrasa (Muslim religious school) and the conflict between science and religion have caused bloody stages of history not only in the history of our country but also in the history of humankind…”(T.B.M.M., 1949, 20-3, pp. 279-280). As the quote sets forth, religious education is a long-standing issue in Turkey, starting from the mektep-madrasa conflict in the late Ottoman Empire to the foundation of theology faculties in the early years of the Turkish Republic. This issue is closely related to the predicament of modernity and Islam in Turkey, which involves the role and place of Islam in political and social life that continues to be at the center of heated debates. This paper discusses this controversial character of religious education in Turkey and aims to reach a deeper understanding of its significance within Turkish politics. The academic study of Islam in Turkey can be divided into two conflicting schools of thought: the social scientific study of Islam based on the use of reason and social-scientific methodologies, and the theological approach built on traditional knowledge and faith. Düzgün, as a Professor of Kalam at Ankara Divinity School, goes beyond this dilemma by employing his unique approach that can be termed as critical modernism, through which he reevaluates some of the core binary concepts of Islamic studies, such as reason/faith, modern/traditional and knowledge/belief and develops a critique of the structure/contexts in which they are used. This paper analyzes Düzgün’s critiques to understand the controversy over the role of Islam in Turkish modernization and the contemporary sociopolitical dynamics of Turkey. It argues that the Islamic intellectual work is directly related to the political debates in Turkey, and the critical modernist approach that Düzgün undertakes is vital in understanding these debates; assessing the significance of his work will open up new paths for the future of Islamic political thought. This paper brings a new perspective to the study of religious education in Turkey by focusing on the place of Islamic studies in universities, which has not yet received the attention it deserves. It contributes to the literature by reflecting on the relationship between the rising Islamic intellectual area and wider sociopolitical and global relations in the world.