THE DIALECTICS OF SELF AND OTHER IN INDONESIAN RELIGIOUS DISCOURSE

Abstract

The debates on religious issues that have been somewhat heated in Indonesia in recent times indicate that the country is now entering a new and interesting phase. One of the many issues that have attracted the younger Muslim scholars is the idea of what I call religious I-ness and otherness. It seems that within this issue one may find the explanation of how religious dogma should be interpreted within the context of Indonesian life on the one hand, and –on the other- how this explanation may in turn provide some type of answer for many problems that this country faces. This paper provides a discursive description of the current intellectual debate in Indonesia around the problem of religious I-ness and otherness that the diverse religious discourse in the country have tried to explore.