This work is made possible through a grant from The Ondokuz Mayis University of Samsun, Turkey, for which I am grateful. I would like to thank Professor Hüseyin Peker, the Dean of the Ilahiyat Faculty and Professors, Ekrem Sarikçioglu, Sadik Cihan as well as Professor Osman Çakir, the president of The Ondokuz Mayis University for their continuous support.

I would like to thank Professor Riccardo Pozzo for his valuable assistance and guidance in this work and Professors Daniel O. Dahlstrom, Robert Sokolowski and Thérèse-Anne Druart at The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., where this work was carried out for their suggestions.

Burhanettin Tatar was born in Samsun, Türkiye (Turkey) in 1965. He received his B. A. degree in Religious Studies and an M. A. degree in Islamic Theology from The Ondokuz Mayis University in 1988 and 1992. From 1991 he has been Research Assistant at The Ondokuz Mayis University. He carried out his Ph. D. studies at the Catholic University of America 1993-1998 which are reflected in the present work. In 1998 he begins teaching as an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at The Ondokuz Mayis University, Samsun, Türkiye.