Sacred Space in the Hizmet Movement & The Thought of Fethullah Gulen

(Video Duration: 5 mins. 8 secs.)

Jon Pahl, Ph.D.

Religious Studies Perspectives on the Hizmet Movement was the topic of the fourth panel at the “International Conference on the Gulen Movement: Paradigms, Projects, Aspirations” held at the International House of University of Chicago in 2010.

In the panel, Dr. Jon Pahl of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at the Temple University, Pennsylvania presented his paper on the Sacred Space in the Hizmet Movement and the Thought of M. Fethullah Gulen. Below are some excerpts from Dr. Pahl’s presentation:

…In the Hizmet Movement “sacred space” is, above all, moral space. Such a conception of sacred space blends the Sufi and secular histories of Turkey in the ways that are negotiated in the details of everyday moral decisions.

…The Hizmet Movement’s commitment to interreligious engagement and dialogue toward truth produces habitants of nonviolence.