Category Archives: Islam and Christianity

Amir Hussain at Fordham

Conferences and Talks, Ethics, Islam and Christianity, Islam in America

Loyola Marymount Professor Amir Hussain will be responding to the inaugural lecture of Rev. Patrick J. Ryan at Fordham this coming Thursday. Details below for all those in the New York Metropolitan area.

Annual Fall McGinley Lecture: “Faith and the Possibility of Jewish-Christian-Muslim Trialogue”

Inaugural lecture of Rev. Patrick J. Ryan, S.J., as Fordham’s Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society.

Thursday, 19 November 2009 | 8 p.m.
Keating First Auditorium | Rose Hill Campus

The inaugural lecture of Rev. Patrick J. Ryan, S.J., as Fordham’s Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society, is titled “Faith and the Possibility of Jewish-Christian-Muslim Trialogue.” The lecture will be followed by responses by Professor Amir Hussain of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and Rabbi Daniel F. Polish, spiritual leader of Congregation Shir Chadash in Poughkeepsie, New York. A reception will follow the lecture, which is open to the public without charge.

For more information, contact Sister Anne-Marie Kirmse, O.P., Ph.D., at (718) 817-4746 or kirmse@fordham.edu.

Talal Asad and the Anthropology of Islam

Anthropology/Sociology, Conferences and Talks, Islam and Christianity, Islam in Europe, Scholars


Left to right, Jocelyne Cesari, Dan Varisco, Jens Kreinath, Nadia Fadil, Refika Sarionder at AAR in Montreal

Last Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion I had the privilege of serving in a “responding” role on one of the first panels on the program. This was a session entitled “Talal Asad and the Anthropology of Islam,” organized by Jens Kreinath (Wichita State University), presided over by Refika Sarionder (University of Bielefeld) and with presentations by Jocelyne Cesari (Harvard University), Nadia Fadil (Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven), Jens Kreinath and Bruce B. Lawrence (Duke University). [Abstracts of the panel and papers are posted at the bottom of my comments.]

Following a typically powerful presentation by Bruce Lawrence and placed in the difficult role of representing Talal Asad (who was not present), I began my remarks by noting that I felt myself between a rock (a solid one at that) and a hard place. Drawing on my anthropological roots, I offered myself in the metaphorical role of Thomas Henry Huxley to Darwin, dubbing my wrapping-up task as akin to Asad’s Bulldog. This is not to say that the papers were overtly critical of Dr. Asad’s work; on the contrary, all expressed appreciation of his work as formative in their own ideas. Yet, in reading over the individual papers I detected several criticisms that stem more from dealing with isolated comments than considering the impressive and expanding corpus of Asad. I decided the best approach was to sum up what I see as some of the reasons the continuing intellectual trajectory of Dr. Asad is useful for those of us interested in something that might be called an “anthropology” of Islam.


Bruce Lawrence at AAR in Montreal

Continue reading Talal Asad and the Anthropology of Islam →

Saudiana Jones vs the “Days of Ignorance”

Archaeology and Antiquities, Islam and Christianity, Saudi Arabia

Digging up the Saudi past: Some would rather not

by Donna Abu-nasr, AP, August 30th, 2009

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Much of the world knows Petra, the ancient ruin in modern-day Jordan that is celebrated in poetry as “the rose-red city, ‘half as old as time,’” and which provided the climactic backdrop for “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”

But far fewer know Madain Saleh, a similarly spectacular treasure built by the same civilization, the Nabateans.

That’s because it’s in Saudi Arabia, where conservatives are deeply hostile to pagan, Jewish and Christian sites that predate the founding of Islam in the 7th century.

But now, in a quiet but notable change of course, the kingdom has opened up an archaeology boom by allowing Saudi and foreign archaeologists to explore cities and trade routes long lost in the desert.

The sensitivities run deep. Archaeologists are cautioned not to talk about pre-Islamic finds outside scholarly literature. Few ancient treasures are on display, and no Christian or Jewish relics. A 4th or 5th century church in eastern Saudi Arabia has been fenced off ever since its accidental discovery 20 years ago and its exact whereabouts kept secret. Continue reading Saudiana Jones vs the “Days of Ignorance” →

Documenting the Study of Islam

Islam and Christianity, Islam in Europe, Islam: Introduction, Journalism and Media

The Internet has become the ultimate research library, especially for older and rare volumes that one used to have to look at only in rare book collections or major university libraries. I noticed recently that several of the earliest journals devoted to the study of Islam now have their earliest versions available online. The extraordinary site, The Internet Archive, now has the first 11 volumes of Der Islam, the first 6 volumes of Die Welt des Islams, and the first 12 volumes of The Moslem World. This is a great resource for scholars, but also worth a browse, especially if you know some German. There is much of value, historical as well as continuing scientific, in these early volumes.

On God and Obama: When Wright is Wrong

Bible and Holy Land, Ethics, Islam and Christianity, Journalism and Media, Judaism, Obama Administration, Terrorism Issue

A new book with the promising but pathetically journalistic title The Evolution of God has just appeared with media fanfare. The fanfare I have seen thus far is an op ed piece and a Time Magazine article by the author, Robert Wright. In both the author’s lack of knowledge brands the work fiction from the start. Let’s start with the Time Magazine article, which is entitled “Decoding God’s Changing Moods.” As a veteran journalist, Wright knows that Bible codes sell well, even though there is nothing to decode in his supposed code. Continue reading On God and Obama: When Wright is Wrong →

Blessed are the Peacemakers?

Bible and Holy Land, Iraq War, Islam and Christianity, Luke R. E. Publican

The Bible is a big book with plenty of quotations for politicians and other enemies of clear thinking. Thomas Jefferson came up with his abridged Bible based solely on the Gospels. He saw value in the ethics but not much in the legal wrangling and superstitions. Now it appears that former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld took the opposite approach, striking out the blessed beatitudes like “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9) and “love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44). Who needs that when there is all that hellfire and brimstone and enemy bashing early on? Apparently not Mr. Rumsfeld, nor his adoring boss, Mr. Bush.

It appears that even though the Defense Secretary was not very adept at devising a plan for post-war Iraq security, he did know a thing or two about Photoshop. You can see a slide show of the illustrated covers of his “Worldwide Intelligence Update” (oxymoron that it was) on the GQ website. It is not hard to see why it was given “no distribution” classification. Continue reading Blessed are the Peacemakers? →

Guns and Bibles

Afghanistan, Bible and Holy Land, Iraq War, Islam and Christianity


Bible Translation map for Afghanistan from Mission Atlas Project

So much for the secular state. When the founding fathers envisioned the transformation of the thirteen original colonies into the United States of America, the explosive baggage of a state religion was wisely foregone. Contemporary Fundamentalist preachers may bemoan the historical fact, but we do not live in a “Christian” nation. Other states have chosen to maintain a formal religious identity, with varying levels of tolerance for those who are not in the majority. Take Afghanistan, for example. Indeed, the Bush administration did just that, or at least did so partially. Although the Taliban were sent packing into the hills, much to the dismay of Pakistanis who value sovereignty in Swat, Afghanistan is still a solidly Muslim country. The American military is present in Afghanistan in order to ensure security and protect the development agenda. Obviously this takes guns. But the latest addition to the peace-on-earth-keeping mission arsenal appears to be Biblical.

A report on al-Jazeera reveals that an American military chaplain is exhorting evangelical men in the ranks to tote more than their rifles. “The Special Forces guys, they hunt men. Basically, we do the same things as Christians. We hunt people for Jesus. We do, we hunt them down. Get the hound of heaven after them, so we get them into the Kingdom. That’s what we do, that’s our business,” he said. Continue reading Guns and Bibles →

Forensic Scriptures: Down by the Riverside

Conferences and Talks, Islam and Christianity, Islam in America, Qur'an

The following information is about a conference at the Riverside Church in Manhattan on May 15-17, 2009. Tabsir commentator and newly tenured professor Amir Hussein (pictured above) will be giving a presentation on Saturday, as noted below. Note that unlocking the key to these Forensic Scriptures is not free, but requires registration.

Forensic Scriptures presents the Qur’an as a sacred resource increasingly accessible to Jewish and Christian scholars and students of the Scriptures. It is a template of scriptural production from the last major culture to spring from the ancient Middle East, in which reliable information about scriptural development has never disappeared from view. To illustrate the model, Muslims believe Muhammad was illiterate and that nearly all Surahs of the Qur’an may have been written down by the women of his household, lead by Hafsah, who was entrusted with preservation of the Qur’an and transmission of it to the world. The Hadith presents conversations and actions of the Prophet as recorded by his Companions, male and female, including another wife, Ayisha. Recognition that such materials were penned by women does not rely on secondary sources or conjecture. Islamic primary sources, under rigorous re-evaluation by Islamic scholars today, have a potential to reveal whole new paradigms that may now be applied to Biblical texts, beginning with these historic Riverside symposia, supported by surrounding seminaries and by noted scholars. Continue reading Forensic Scriptures: Down by the Riverside →