The writings of masters of Sunni kalam, as they sought to defend the Sunni tradition against rationalist theologians (Mu`tazilites), Neoplatonist esotericists (Batinites) and Aristotelian philosophers, and felt increasingly seduced by the appeal of rational systems, express a sense of profound internal conflict. At times, Al-Juwayni (d. 1085) and his disciple al-Ghazali (d. 1111) both seem enthusiastic and confident about the possibility of surpassing the knowledge of the salaf (the pious predecessors). Al-Juwayni contends in his al-Kafia fi’l-jadal that the salaf themselves “realized that there will be after them those who God will chose for excellence in endeavor, greater understanding, perspicacity and intelligence … they therefore did not engage in depth (with contentious issues) and remained brief and satisfied with allusions.” In his later writings, however, our theologian yearns for “the faith of the old women of Nishapur,” declaring elsewhere that the salaf “were the most intelligent of people and best in speech.” (al-Ghiyathi) Al-Ghazali, not one to accept his teacher’s injunction to stay away from rational sciences, engaged in kalam under the same presumption of surpassing the simple-minded piety of the salaf in understanding. But some of his writings express a similar sense of conflict and cynicism towards reason. The way these authors, seeing themselves as the keepers of Sunni orthodoxy, struggle with the cultural memory of the early Muslim teachers, finding ways to transcend it when ebullient, but resigning to the salaf’s surpassing wisdom and piety when faced with self-doubt or crisis of faith, offers an excellent way to investigate how cultural memory has been processed, contended and used in medieval Islamic thought.