Writer Carroll states in the introduction that prior to a trip she made late in 2004 she was unaware that the organizers of the Institute for Interfaith Dialog based in Houston, Texas as well as the organizers of the trip itself were members of a community of people inspired by the notions of Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish Islamic scholar. Reading further we find Carroll’s intent in this book is to ‘place the ideas of Fethullh Gulen into the context of the larger humanities. Chapter titles are 1: Gulen and Kant on Inherent Human Value and Moral Dignity, 2: Gulen and Mill on Freedom, 3: Gulen, Confucius, and Plato on the Human Ideal, 4: Gulen, Confucius, and Plato on Education, 5: Gulen and Sartre on Responsibility. Kant’s belief was that humans have inherent value, Gulen spoke of the transcendent value of human beings. Mills’ assertions that the tyranny of the majority must be met head long was presented from his viewpoint of the nineteenth century Briton. Gulen avows that ‘freedom allows people to do whatever they want, provided they do not harm others and they remain wholly devoted to the truth.’ A Dialogue of Civilizations: Gulen’s Islamic Ideals and Humanistic Discourse presents the query ‘what is the level of resonance between Islam and the West?’ That the twenty-first century has become an episode of heretofore unnoticed quandary is obvious. Up until 9-1-1 few worldwide really gave much thought to anything other than their own viewpoint. Writer Carroll finds significance can be gleaned an awareness of the theoretically divergent views of Gulen, Turkish Muslim scholar and those of Immanuel Kant, Confucius, Plato, John Stuart Mill, and Jean Paul Sartre regarding critical hypothesis including intrinsic ethical pride, creature significance, learning, autonomy, and accountability. The reader may be surprised to find out these figures who are separated by centuries in time, as well as oceans or continents have a propensity toward speaking the same language.

Writer Carroll’s attentive writing style has produced a judicious and timely work, she is knowledgeable, presents her thesis in readable manner and holds reader interest. Not for everyone, if you are looking for a lighthearted, ’story’ book for a quick afternoon read A Dialogue of Civilizations: Gulen’s Islamic Ideals and Humanistic Discourse is not that book. If you would like to learn a little more about Gulen and his notions of education and dialog then A Dialogue of Civilizations: Gulen’s Islamic Ideals and Humanistic Discourse will prove an eye-opening read.

Educational read, happy to recommend for those who are hoping to learn something of an interesting thesis. 

Midwest Book Review

A Dialogue of Civilizations: Gulen’s Islamic Ideals & Humanistic Discourse, authored by Dr. Jill Carroll, couples the thinking of such great philosophers as Kant and Plato and the Islamic perspectives of Fethullan Gulen on the same themes. Dr. Jill suggests in her introduction that “readers may read the chapters in any order they wish, without losing any of the coherence of the book,” and although I only read the first chapter, Gulen and Kant on Inherent Human Dignity and Value, I found the resonance between Kantian analysis and Gulen’s Islamic thought refreshing. I particularly enjoyed Dr. Carroll’s inclusion of Gulen’s thoughts on human beings “possessing value higher even than angels” – thoughts also developed in the writings of the Apostle Paul and Saint Gregory Palamas. This book will be of great benefit in acknowledging the common dignity of all human beings.

–Rt. Rev. Alexei Smith
Ecumenical and Interreligious Officer
Archdiocese of Los Angeles

This book is magnificently successful in demonstrating the compatibility of Western humanistic and the religious Islamic dialogue of Fethullah Gulen without removing from the sight the divine inspiration of the latter’s thinking. In a Western world emotionally held intellectual hostage by “The War on Terror” and its assumption of Islamic culpability, it cuts to the contrary heart of the matter. The reader is left with the conclusion that Islam and the West are two civilizations whose core ideas can be the subject of a mutually informing intellectual dialogue. While primarily presenting a basis of common civilizational understanding, Dr. Carroll secondarily but importantly also effectively introduces Islam to the prospective secular Western reader via important complementary secular ideas with which he/she is already familiar.

– Louis Cantori,
University of Maryland,
Baltimore County

“A Dialogue of Civilizations” is a very intruguing and timely work. By discussing ideas of a contemporary Muslim thinker (Gulen) in comparison to ancient and modern philosophers, Dr. Carroll goes beyond the false dichotomy of Islam vs. the West, which has been overemphasized since the end of the Cold War, especially the aftermath of 9/11. She reveals that intellectuals–regardless of their affilations with Islam, Western secularism, or ancient philosopy–have a shared terminology while discussing human problems, even if they disagree on the solutions.

–Ahmet Kuru
Professor of Political Science
San Diego State University

Dr. Jill Carroll’s book is a bold attempt to grapple in a responsible and thought-provoking manner with several key questions of interest to students of comparative religion. By using a wide spectrim of sources, she engages the reader in the quest for the foundation of religious experience, and the presumptions and attitudes on which they are erected. She does this with particular emphasis on the Islamic thought of the Turkish scholar and religious leader Fethullah Gulen, a much different paradigm than that experienced by most Westerners. The resulting study is sure to challenge the reader, and illuminate the opportunities for improved human understanding that corr-cultural religious dialogue offers to the peoples of the 21st century.

–Bradley K. Hawkins PhD
Department of Religious Studies
California State University Long Beach

B. Jill Carroll’s A Dialogue of Civilizations is a deeply suggestive work, seeking to juxtapose key seminal ideas from across the centuries and around the world. The principal point of the book is perhaps best captured in Carroll’s opening remarks in chapter five: “Dialogue is the means by which we maintain our focus on the humanity of others, even when, or perhaps especially when, we strongly disagree with their ideas. Finding commonalities amidst radical difference is a proven strategy for peaceful coexistence among people who largely disagree. Such difficult dialogues may, in fact, be the most important ones to have” (at p. 82). To paraphrase the point so often noticed by others: if we disagree about nothing, dialogue is unnecessary; if we disagree about everything, dialogue is impossible; it is when we can identify both core points of agreement and disagreement that dialogue is desirable, indeed needful, and at its most interesting and potentially productive stage. This is the challenge that must be accepted as leaders and citizens of nations around our world seek pathways to peace between all peoples.

–Daniel Skubik
Professor of Law, Ethics & Humanities
California Baptist University

Jill Carroll’s _A Dialogue of Civilizations_ offers a timely riposte to theories that civilizations can only clash. Bringing together intellectual and spiritual giants from the East and the West, this “textual dialogue” shows how the commitment to the dignity of all humans can guide us towards shared moral and social values. These values resonate centrally in the writings of Turkish Islamic teacher, preacher, and scholar Fethullah Gülen, whom Carroll convincingly — and sometimes provocatively — draws into conversation with Confucius, Plato, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, and Jean Paul Sartre. This dialogue on the urgent questions of human value, moral dignity, leadership, freedom, education and responsibility not only offers a platform, but also articulates a method, for seeking common ground in our global era.

–Dr. Bernadette Andrea
University ofTexas at San Antonio

In this brilliant and timely book Dr. Jill Carroll describes effectively not only the need for dialogue, she also shows us the critical way forward. In the spirit of Rumi Dr. Jill Carroll invites all to come to the table to discuss the truth about ourselves and our world. Dr. Jill Carroll’s subject is Fetullah Gulen, the Sufi leader who has supplied the spiritual architecture for a civil movement rapidly changing the landscape of many countries. She situates Gulen within the broader humanistic discourse on key questions of liberty, tolerance, education and “the good.” Dr. Carroll has a unique way of taking complicated questions and putting them on the bottom shelf so anyone can reach them. I know of no one more competent, more compassionate to guide us through these crucial questions.

–Dr. David B. Capes
College of Arts and Humanities
Houston Baptist University

In A Dialogue of Civilizations B. Jill Carroll creates a textual dialogue between the ideas of Fethullah Gulen, (affectionately known as Hodjaefendi) and those of Confucius, Plato, Kant, Mill, and Sartre. Gulen is a contemporary Turkish intellectual who has spent his life highlighting the ecumenical message of Islam, viz.,that all religions deserve courtesy and respect, that men and women must keep the balance between material and spiritual values, and the rope that links us to Allah, also links us to one another. In sum, I feel quite comfortable recommending this book to others. It has sent me back to the writings of F. Gulen himself so that I may take in his message of peace and love.

–Richard Penaskovic,
Professor of Religious Studies
Auburn University, Alabama

By comparing M. Fethullah Gulen’s ideas to five seminal and influential thinkers, B. Jill Carroll of Rice University shows that it is possible to carry on a constructive intellectual and ethical conversation among thinkers who have fundamentally different religious, moral, and political beliefs. This is not an easy task, but it is a needed one in these days of near instant global communications and heightened cultural conflicts. She rightly appeals to his Sufi orientation underlying his large and grand vision for inter-religious and inter-cultural relations. A profound love of all things permeates this optimistic approach to engaging others, and through this kind of dialogue which both Gulen and Carroll envision, we can thus see more of the implications contained in Rumi’s words (the 13th century mystical Sufi poet), “You have to live your Love or else you’ll only end in words” (Mathnavi I, 109).

–Dennis Sansom
Professor of Philosophy
Samford University