Faculty Publications
2011
Nature and Empire in Ottoman Egypt (Cambridge, 2011)
In one of the first ever environmental histories of the Ottoman Empire, Alan Mikhail examines relations between the empire and its most lucrative province of Egypt. Based on both the local records of various towns and villages in rural Egypt and the imperial orders of the Ottoman state, this book charts how changes in the control of natural resources fundamentally altered the nature of Ottoman imperial sovereignty in Egypt and throughout the empire. In revealing how Egyptian peasants were able to use their knowledge and experience of local environments to force the hand of the imperial state, Nature and Empire in Ottoman Egypt tells a story of the connections of empire stretching from canals in the Egyptian countryside to the palace in Istanbul, from the Anatolian forest to the shores of the Red Sea, and from a plague flea's bite to the fortunes of one of the most powerful states of the early modern world.
Alan Mikhail has been awarded the Samuel & Ronnie Heyman Prize for Outstanding Scholarly Publication by Yale and has been named the inaugural recipient of the Roger Owen Book Award for a work in economic history by the Middle East Studies Association for his monograph, “Nature and Empire in Ottoman Egypt.”
Religion and Mysticism in Early Islam: Theology and Sufism in Yemen
(I.B.Taurus, 2011)
Scholar, mystic and visionary, Ibn 'Alwan lived through the transition from Ayyubid to Rasulid rule in thirteenth-century Yemen. He was well known in his time for his critique of the ruling elites and their governance, and left behind a substantial body of writings on Islamic mysticism, theology, law and exegesis of the Qur'an. Here Muhammad Aziz presents a comprehensive portrait of Ibn 'Alwan, delineating the religious and political background in Yemen, the development of Sufi orders, the interplay between Sufi, Shi'i and Sunni traditions, and the impact of Ibn 'Alwan on the history of Sufism and Islam. The first study of Ibn 'Alwan in English, "Religion and Mysticism in Early Islam" is essential reading for all those interested in mysticism, early Islam, Sufism, and religion and history more generally.
The Safavid Dynastic Shrine: Architecture, Religion and Power in Early Modern Iran
(I.B. Taurus, 2011)
The Safavid period represents an immensely rich chapter in the history of Iranian architecture. In this discussion of Safavid architecture in the context of its political, social and religious milieu, Kishwar Rizvi gives special consideration to the shrine of Shaykh Safi, built in AD 1334, as an important template for an emergent Safavid taste. Of both regal and religious significance, the shrine's direct relationship to imperial power is unique in Islamic architecture and provides valuable information about the methods of architectural benefaction prevalent in early modern Iran. Rizvi examines the ways in which the transition from a devotional aesthetic to an imperial one represented the young dynasty's imperial aspirations, and affected a wide range of public buildings from mosques to palaces during the early Safavid period and beyond.
2010
Theophrastus On First Principles (known as his Metaphysics)
[Philosophia Antiqua 119] (Brill, 2010)
The short aporetic essay On First Principles by Theophrastus, thought to have been transmitted as his Metaphysics, is critically edited for the first time on the basis of all the available evidence--the Greek manuscripts and the medieval Arabic and Latin translations—together with an introduction, English translation, extensive commentary, and a diplomatic edition of the medieval Latin translation. This book equally contributes to Graeco-Arabic studies as ancilla of classical studies, and includes the first critical edition of the Arabic translation with an English translation and commentary, a detailed excursus on the editorial technique for Greek texts whose medieval Arabic translations are extant as well as for the Arabic translations themselves, and a complete Greek and Arabic glossary as a blueprint for future lexica.
Ibn Rushd: Maßgebliche Abhandlung. Fasl al-Maqal
(Verlag der Weltreligionen, 2010)
The Muslim philosopher Ibn Rushd (d. 1198) became famous among Latin European scholars as a commentator of the works of Aristotle. In Europe he was known as Averroes or simple as commentarius, “the commentator.” Active under the Almohads in Muslim Seville, Cordoba, and Marrakech, his various sets of commentaries on Aristotle were translated into Latin and Hebrew and widely read until the 16th century. In Islam, however, his influence was very limited until the 19th century when three of his works on the harmonization of religion and philosophy were discovered in a Spanish manuscript library. Ibn Rushd wrote these three works in his capacity as a Muslim legal scholar (faqih) and an Almohad theologian. In these works he expresses the view that best theology of Islam is the philosophy of Aristotle.
This volume offers a German translation of two of Ibn Rushd’s work on Islamic theology: his Decisive Treatise on the Kind of Connection Between the Religious Law and Philosophy (Fasl al-maqal)and the so-called Appendix on Divine Knowledge (al-Damima). The translations come with extensive notes and explanations as well as an introduction on Ibn Rushd’s life, his position as a scholar of the Almohad movement, and the influence of his Decisive Treatise on debates within modern Islam.
The Emergence of Judaism: Classical Traditions in Contemporary Perspective (Fortress Press, 2010)
This brief survey text tells the story of Judaism. Through the lens of modern biblical scholarship, Christine Hayes explores the shifting cultural contexts--the Babylonian exile, the Roman Empire, the Byzantine period, the rise of Christianity--that affected Jewish thought and practice, and laid the groundwork for the Talmudic era and its modern legacy.
Rethinking Violence: States and Non-State Actors in Conflict
(MIT Press, 2010)
States, nationalist movements, and ethnic groups in conflict face a choice between violent and nonviolent strategies. Although major wars between sovereign states have become rare, contemporary world politics has been rife with internal conflict, ethnic cleansing, and violence against civilians. This book asks how, why, and when states and non-state actors use violence against one another, and examines the effectiveness of various forms of political violence.
The Middle East
(CQ Press, 2010)
States, nationalist movements, and ethnic groups in conflict face a choice between violent and nonviolent strategies. Although major wars between sovereign states have become rare, contemporary world politics has been rife with internal conflict, ethnic cleansing, and violence against civilians. This book asks how, why, and when states and non-state actors use violence against one another, and examines the effectiveness of various forms of political violence.
The Old Testament in Byzantium (Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Symposia
and Colloquia) (Harvard University Press, 2010)
This volume contains selected papers from a December 2006 Dumbarton Oaks symposium that complemented an exhibition of early Bible manuscripts at the Freer Gallery and Sackler Gallery of Art titled “In the Beginning: Bibles before the Year 1000.”
Wrestling the Word: The Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Believer
(Westminster John Knox Press, 2010)
This book for introductory Old Testament classes offers an appealing illustration of how faith and academic study can work together, motivating and equipping Christian believers to turn to the Old Testament as a profound resource for their daily negotiations of faith, identity, and culture. Throughout, Sharp focuses on the basic fundamentals that are a necessary part of every student's education.
2009
Apocalyptic Islam and Iranian Shi'ism
(I.B. Tauris, 2009)
Interest in Shi'i Islam is running at unprecedented levels. International tensions over Iran, where the largest number of Shi'i Muslims live, as well as the political resurgence of the Shi'i in Iraq and Lebanon, have created an urgent need to understand the background, beliefs and motivations of this dynamic vision of Islam.
J, E, and the Redaction of the Pentateuch
(Mohr Siebeck, 2009)
Joel S. Baden addresses the relationship between the J and E documents in the Pentateuch. He demonstrates that, contrary to the standard claims of classical source criticism, the J and E sources were never combined into a "JE" document. Rather, these two sources were combined with each other at the same time that they were combined with the P and D documents, in one process of redaction.
Jacob of Sarug’s Homily on the Tower of Babel
(Gorgias Press, 2009)
A bilingual Syriac-English edition of a metrical homily on the Tower of Babel by the Syriac author Jacob of Sarug (d. 521).
Civilizations of Ancient Iraq
(Princeton University Press, 2009)
In Civilizations of Ancient Iraq, Benjamin and Karen Foster tell the fascinating story of ancient Mesopotamia from the earliest settlements ten thousand years ago to the Arab conquest in the seventh century. Winner of the Felicia A. Holton Book Award 2010, Archaeological Institute of America
Keilschrifttexte aus Assur literarischen Inhalts III: Historische und historisch-literarische Texte
(Harrassowitz, 2009)
Contains handcopies and editions of 80 previously unpublished historical and historical-literary texts in cuneiform from the city of Assur (Iraq). The texts, written between the 13th and the 7th century BCE, include the earliest Assyrian royal inscription that mentions Egypt, a new letter to the god Assur, a chronicle from the reign of Assurnasirpal I, new fragments of vassal treaties of the Assyrian kings Sennacherib and Esarhaddon, and a fictional dialogue between Ishme-Dagan, an early Assyrian king, and the god Enlil-Assur.
Al-Ghazali's Philosophical Theology
(Oxford University Press, 2009)
The Muslim thinker al-Ghazali (d. 1111) was one of the most influential theologians and philosophers of Islam and has been considered an authority in both Western and Islamic philosophical traditions. Born in northeastern Iran, he held the most prestigious academic post in Islamic theology in Baghdad, only to renounce the position and teach at small schools in the provinces for no money. His contributions to Islamic scholarship range from responding to the challenges of Aristotelian philosophy to creating a new type of Islamic mysticism and integrating both these traditions-falsafa and Sufism-into the Sunni mainstream.
Assisting Reproduction, Testing Genes: Global Encounters with the New Biotechnologies
(Berghahn Books, 2009) (with Daphna Birenbaum-Carmeli)
Following the routinization of assisted reproduction in the industrialized world, technologies such as in vitro fertilization, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, and DNA-based paternity testing have traveled globally and are now being offered to couples in numerous non-Western countries. This volume explores the application and impact of these advanced reproductive and genetic technologies in societies across the globe.
Anthropology and Public Health: Bridging Differences in Culture and Society
(Oxford University Press, 2009)
Many serious public health problems confront the world in the new millennium. Anthropology and Public Health examines the critical role of anthropology in four crucial public health domains: (1) anthropological understandings of public health problems such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, and diabetes; (2) anthropological design of public health interventions in areas such as tobacco control and elder care; (3) anthropological evaluations of public health initiatives such as Safe Motherhood and polio eradication; and (4) anthropological critiques of public health policies, including neoliberal health care reforms. As the volume demonstrates, anthropologists provide crucial understandings of public health problems from the perspectives of the populations in which the problems occur. On the basis of such understandings, anthropologists may develop and implement interventions to address particular public health problems, often working in collaboration with local participants. Anthropologists also work as evaluators, examining the activities of public health institutions and the successes and failures of public health programs. Anthropological critiques may focus on major international public health agencies and their workings, as well as public health responses to the threats of infectious disease and other disasters.
Reconceiving the Second Sex: Men, Masculinity, and Reproduction
(Berghahn Books, 2009)
Extensive social science research, particularly by anthropologists, has explored women's reproductive lives, their use of reproductive technologies, and their experiences as mothers and nurturers of children. Meanwhile, few if any volumes have explored men's reproductive concerns or contributions to women's reproductive health: Men are clearly viewed as the second sexA in reproduction. This volume argues that the marginalization of men is an oversight of considerable proportions. It sheds new light on male reproduction from a cross-cultural, global perspective, focusing not only upon men in Europe and America but also those in the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America. Both heterosexual and homosexual, married and unmarried men are featured in this volume, which assesses concerns ranging from masculinity and sexuality to childbirth and fatherhood.
Islam and Liberal Citizenship: The Search for an Overlapping Consensus
(Oxford University Press, 2009)
Some argue that Muslims have no tradition of separation of church and state and therefore can't participate in secular, pluralist society. At the other extreme, some Muslims argue that it is the duty of all believers to resist western forms of government and to impose Islamic law. Andrew F. March demonstrates that there are very strong and authentically Islamic arguments for accepting the demands of citizenship in a liberal democracy, many of them found even in medieval works of Islamic jurisprudence. In fact, he shows, it is precisely the fact that Rawlsian political liberalism makes no claims to metaphysical truth that makes it appealing to Muslims.
Dance Discourse in Israel
(Resling Press, 2009)
Dance Discourse in Israel introduces a collection of articles in the field of dance research in Israel. A key issue of the book is the search for a unique expression of local Israeli creation within the universal language of dance.
Inventing the Israelite: Jewish Fiction in Nineteenth-Century France
(Stanford University Press, 2009)
In this book, Maurice Samuels brings to light little known works of literature produced from 1830 to 1870 by the first generation of Jews born as French citizens. The book won the Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize given by the Modern Language Association for the best book in French Studies in 2009.
Irony and Meaning in the Hebrew Bible
(Indiana University Press, 2009)
Was God being ironic in commanding Eve not to eat fruit from the tree of wisdom? Carolyn J. Sharp suggests that many stories in the Hebrew Scriptures may be ironically intended. Deftly interweaving literary theory and exegesis, Sharp illumines the power of the unspoken in a wide variety of texts from the Pentateuch, the Prophets, and the Writings.
Old Testament Prophets for Today
(Westminster John Knox Press, 2009)
Carolyn Sharp offers a brief introduction to each of the Bible s prophets and their prophetic books, developing the theological themes present in each with an eye toward how the prophetic message is relevant today. Sharp understands that prophets can be mediators to connect us with the holiness of God, idealists whose desires for humanity call us to new heights of God’s desire, and companions for us in the confusing journey through our complicated world. The book contains study questions for group or individual use.