Philosophy and Religion

Dr. Herbert Berg, Professor

Faculty portrait, contact information, and education.
Herbert Berg

Office: Leutze Hall 219
Phone: (910) 962-3701
E-mail: bergh@uncw.edu

Education

  • Ph.D., Centre for the Study of Religion - University of Toronto
  • M.A., Centre for the Study of Religion - University of Toronto
  • B.A., Religious Studies / Middle Eastern Studies - University of Waterloo
  • B.Math., University of Waterloo
  • 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