Fethullah Gulen Tolerance, Dialogue and Peace
About the paper:
One of the major analytical models for the study of new religious movements (NRMs) is that of Social Capital Theory. And among the NRMs increasingly cited as Social Capital case material is the THE GULEN MOVEMENT. This brief paper brings the analysis of Gulen Movement as Social Capital up to date. It will be shown that the Gulen Movement is perhaps the most impressive example of the development and nurturing of religiously informed instruments of social capital formation – especially in the building of inter-religious and inter-ethnic/national trust and tolerance. Indeed, the Gulen Movement is among the leading exemplars of trust-based civil society initiatives worldwide.
About the author:
William Taft Stuart: Teaches anthropology at the University of Maryland-College Park, where his specialty is Comparative Religion with a concentration on New Religious Movements in the globalized world of the 21 Century. He participated in a recent trip to Turkey, under Gulen Movement auspices. He has worked in various countries and among diverse religious and ethnic groups in the Near East and Eastern Europe.