The implementation of Shari’a in the modern nation-state has complicated the relationship between religion and state power. In a theocratic state such as Iran, where the national legal regime is based on religious law, the Ulama have resorted to various strands of Ilm al-kalam “theologies” in order to interpret religious doctrines. This paper describes the nature of what has been called kalam-e jadid (new theology) in the Islamic Republic of Iran. It argues that in Iran there are currently two kinds of Ilm al- kalam in practice. One type of theology that is more widely adhered to is the classical theology that stays true to traditional precepts, while the second is modern in nature and breaks with tradition in certain circumstances. This strand of kalam-e jadid, which makes use of “theology of selectivity,” is represented here by the works of Ayatollah Yousef Sanei, the person who epitomizes the intellectual but tradition-bound wave of post- revolutionary theological thought in Iran. In making this distinction, this paper delineates these different forms of theology in Iran with respect to family law. The issue of Islamic family law is a complex and contentious topic that has engaged the Ulama, women and state in a dynamic debate. Some Iranian Ulama are urging the state to reform the family law while more traditional Ulama such as Ayatollah Javadi-Amoli are refuting such arguments on the basis that it dose not adhere to the traditional Islamic principles. This paper will address the perceptive of Ulama who make use of kalam-e jadid and those who adhere to classical legal theory concerning the issues of family law, in order to shed light on the ideological distance between these two trends in the current Iranian Islamic thought.