Dr. Herbert Berg, Professor
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Office: Leutze Hall 219 |
Education
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- Areas of Expertise
- Islam
- International Studies
- Method and Theory in the Study of Religion
- Publications
Monographs
- Elijah Muhammad. Makers of the Muslim World, edited by Patricia Crone. Oneworld Publications, 2013.
- Elijah Muhammad and Islam. New York: New York University Press, 2009.
- The Development of Exegesis in Early Islam: The Debate over the Authenticity of Muslim Literature from the Formative Period. Richmond: Curzon Press, 2000.
Edited Volumes
- New Perspectives on the Nation of Islam, edited by Herbert Berg and Dawn-Marie Gibson (forthcoming).
- Routledge Handbook on Early Islam, edited by Herbert Berg. London: Routledge, (under contract).
- Method and Theory in the Study of Islamic Origins, edited Herbert Berg. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2003.
- Islamic Origins Reconsidered: John Wansbrough and the Study of Early Islam, edited by Herbert Berg. Special Issue of Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 9.1 (1997).
Articles in Peer-Reviewed Journals and Collected Works
- "Methodologies in the Study of hadīths: Islamic Origins and the Formation of the Islamic Tradition." In The Oxford Handbook of Hadith Studies, edited by Mustafa Shah. Oxford: Oxford University Press (under contract).
- "Exegesis." In Wiley-Blackwell Companion to the Hadith, edited by Daniel Brown. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing (forthcoming).
- "African American Islam." In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press (forthcoming).
- "Islamic Origins and the Question of Methodologies." In The Oxford Handbook of Qur'anic Studies, edited by Muhammad Abdel Haleem and Mustafa Shah. Oxford: Oxford University Press (forthcoming).
- "The 'School' of Ibn 'Abbās." In The Meaning of the Word: Lexicology and Tafsīr, edited by Stephen Burge, 67-88. Oxford: Oxford University Press in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2015.
- "Black Muslims." In Routledge Handbook of Islam in the West, edited by Roberto Tottoli, 123-136. London: Routledge, 2014.
- "The Divine Sources." In The Ashgate Research Companion to Islamic Law, edited by Peri Bearman and Ruud Peters, 27-40. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, 2014.
- Review Essay: Muḥammad is Not the Father of Any of Your Men: The Making of the Last Prophet, by David S. Powers. Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 40 (2013): 363-372.
- "Failures (of Nerve?) in the Study of Islamic Origins." Failure and Nerve in the Study of Religion: Working with Donald Wiebe, edited by William E. Arnal, Willi Braun, Russell T. McCutcheon, 112-128. London: Equinox, 2012.
- "The Essence of Essentializing: A Critical Discourse on 'Critical Discourse in the Study of Islam'." Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 24 (2012):1-20.
- "Elijah Muhammad." In Oxford Bibliographies in Islamic Studies, edited by Tamara Sonn. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
- "Nation of Islam." In Oxford Bibliographies in Islamic Studies, edited by Tamara Sonn. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
- "The Needle in the Haystack: Islamic Origins and the Nature of the Early Sources." In The Coming of the Comforter: When, Where, and to Whom? Studies on the Rise of Islam in Memory of John Wansbrough, edited by Basile Lourié, Carlos A. Segovia, Alessandro Bausi, 299-330. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgia Press, 2012.
- "Elijah Muhammad's Redeployment of Muhammad: Racialist and Prophetic Interpretations of the Qur'ān." In Transmission and Dynamics of the Textual Sources of Islam: Essays in Honour of Harald Motzki, edited by Nicolet Boekhoff-van der Voort, Kees Versteegh, and Joas Wagemakers, 321-345. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2011.
- "The Isnād and the Production of Cultural Memory: Ibn 'Abbās as a Case Study." Numen 58 (2011): 259-283.
- "Abbasid Historians' Portrayals of al-'Abbās b. 'Abd al-Muttalib." Abbasid Studies II: Occasional Papers of the School of Abbasid Studies, Leuven, 28 June - 1 July 2004 , edited by John Nawas, 13-38. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, 177. Leuven: Peeters Publishers, 2010.
- "The Historical Muhammad and the Historical Jesus: A Comparison of Scholarly Reinventions and Reinterpretations," with Sarah Rollens. Studies in Religion / Sciences Religieuses, 32.2 (2008): 271-292.
- "Early African American Muslim Movements and the Qur'an." Journal of Qur'anic Studies, 8.1 (2006): 22-37. Reprinted as "Wczesne ruchy afroamerykańskich muzułmanów i Qur'an." Translated by Julian Jeliński. In Nowoczesność Europa islam, edited by Selim Chazbijewicz, Mariusz Turowski, and Karolina Skarbek, 283-295. Warsaw: Instytut Studiów nad Islamem, 2012.
- "Context: Muhammad." Blackwell Companion to the Qur'ān, edited by Andrew Rippin, 187-204. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2006.
- "Mythmaking in the African American Muslim Context: The Moorish Science Temple, the Nation of Islam, and the Muslim Society of America." Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 73.3 (2005): 685-703. Reprinted as "Mitotwórstwo w kontekście afroamerykańskich ruchów muzułmańskich: Mauryjska Świątynia Wiedzy, Naród Islamu i Amerykańskie Stowarzyszenie Muzułmanów." Translated by Julian Jeliński. In Nowoczesność Europa islam, edited by Selim Chazbijewicz, Mariusz Turowski, and Karolina Skarbek, 267-281. Warsaw: Instytut Studiów nad Islamem, 2012.
- "Ibn 'Abbās in `Abbāsid-Era Tafsīr." Abbasid Studies: Occasional Papers of the School of Abbasid Studies, Cambridge 6-10 July 2002 , edited by James E. Montgomery, 129-146. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, 135. Leuven: Peeters Publishers, 2004.
- "Competing Paradigms in the Study of Islamic Origins: Qur'ān 15:89-91 and the Value of Isnāds. Methods and Theories in the Study of Islamic Origins, edited by Herbert Berg, 259-290. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2003.
- "Weaknesses in the Arguments for the Early Dating of tafsīr." In With Reverence for the Word: Medieval Scriptural Exegesis in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, edited by Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Barry D. Walfish, and Joseph W. Goering, 329-345. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
- "Elijah Muhammad and the Qur'ān: The Evolution of His Tafsīr." Muslim World 89 (1999): 42-55."Elijah Muhammad: An African American Muslim mufassir?" Arabica: Revue d'études Arabes 45 (1998): 320-346.
- "The Implications of, and Opposition to, the Methods and Theories of John Wansbrough." Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 9.1 (1997): 3-22. Reprinted in The Quest for the Historical Muhammad, edited by Ibn Warraq, 489-509. Amherst: Prometheus Books, 2000.
- "Tabarī's Exegesis of the Qur'ānic Term al-kitāb." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 63.4 (1995): 761-774.
- Courses Taught
- INT 105 Introduction to International Studies
- INT 490 Senior Seminar in International Studies
- INT 292 Intensive Arabic I
- INT 292 Intensive Arabic II
- PAR 103 Introduction to Religion
- PAR 103 Introduction to Religion (Learning Community)
- PAR 230 Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
- PAR 232 Asian Religions
- PAR 325 Psychology of Religion
- PAR 342 Evil and Suffering
- PAR 343 Atheism and Unbelief
- PAR 375 Introduction to Islam
- PAR 376 Judaism
- PAR 400 Philosophy, Religion, and Sex
- PAR 495 Fundamentalism
- PAR 495 The Qur'an in Translation
- AM 317 America and Islam
- FLL 292 Intensive Arabic for Reading
- HONS America from the Outside
- SHS 210 The Mind and the Body
- GLS 510 Religion and Sex
- GLS 520 Atheism and Unbelief
- GLS 592 Evil and Suffering
- GLS 592 Islam and America
- Awards
- 2013 Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award
- 2012 Distinguised Teaching Professorship Award
- 2012 Board of Trustees Teaching Excellence Award
- 2011 The Office of International Programs: Global Citizenship Grant
- 2007, -10 & -11 Discere Aude Award for outstanding efforts in student mentoring.
- 2006 The Chancellor's Teaching Excellence Award