The Gülen Movement - Salih Cingillioglu Gebunden

This book presents findings from research into one of the world's most influential Islamic movements the Gülen Movement from the perspective of social transformation through adult education. At the core of research questions lies how the movement enrolls volunteers from all walks of life and transforms them to adopt its aims at the expense of their individual ideals. The book reveals the socio-psychological mechanisms that make such transformation possible by looking at how followers integrate weekly lectures and discussions on the theory and practice of Islam into their personal and social lives. The Gülen Movement offers a moderate interpretation of Islam and stresses the vitality of establishing communication with the members of all faiths. This book provides a window into how and why religion may roll into extremism by presenting findings from an opposite perspective: the participants in the research all define themselves as truly pious but do not even imply an act of violence in tens of hours of interviews. In short the book weaves the strands of Islamic movement and adult education into a unified whole and limns the snapshot of a social movement offering a comprehensive discussion of the role of adult education within the movement as well as its transformative potential and its wider social and political implications.