Islamic Theology: an Epistemological Criticism

Abstract

The purpose of epistemology is to question  what is knowledge and how to acquire its nature as well as to question the validity of knowledge. The Islamic theology  is a main source of Muslim’s knowledge stemming from revelation. A method of acquiring knowledge is by involving  language games, while its truth is regarded  as an absolute truth with a more logical verification.  Such an epistemological structure countains some foul, especially when we make religion as  a means to solve social problems, such as  poverty, disrespecting plurality, environmental disaster, or social conflicts. Therefore a Muslim is obliged to review all aspects  of  Islamic theology by borrowing  social   sciences, methods to explain a religious phenomenon. Then, he or she  tries to reformulate  a new  structure  of  Islamic theology in accordance with modern development. Some of ‘mending’ offered herein  are a question of what is  a community role to formulate a faith  as well as a  need of holistic epistemology form, and even of a non-foundational theology which did not  justify certain faiths.

Keywords: Theology, Methods, Postmodernism.