John Louis Esposito is a professor of International Affairs and
Islamic StudiesIn a Muslim context, Islamic studies can be an umbrella term for all virtually all of academia, both originally researched and as defined by the Islamization of knowledge...
at
Georgetown UniversityGeorgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
. He is also the director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at
Georgetown UniversityGeorgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
.
Early life
Esposito was raised a Roman Catholic in an Italian neighborhood in
BrooklynBrooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
,
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and spent a decade in a Catholic
monasteryMonastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
. After taking his first degree he worked as a management consultant and high-school teacher. He then studied and received a masters in theology at St. John's University. He earned a PhD at
Temple UniversityTemple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...
,
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
in 1974, studying
IslamIslam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
and held postdoctoral appointments at
HarvardHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and Oxford. He is well-known as a promoter of strong ties between Muslims and Christians and has challenged the
VaticanThe Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
to make greater efforts to encourage such ties
Academic career
For nearly twenty years after completing his PhD, Esposito had taught religious studies (including
HinduismHinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
,
BuddhismBuddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and Islam) at the
College of the Holy CrossThe College of the Holy Cross is an undergraduate Roman Catholic liberal arts college located in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA...
, a Jesuit college in
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. At Holy Cross, Esposito held the Loyola Professor of Middle East Studies position, was the chair of the Department of Religious Studies, and the director of college's Center for International Studies. At
Georgetown UniversityGeorgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
, Esposito holds the position of University Professor and teaches as both Professor of Religion and International Affairs and Professor of Islamic Studies. Esposito also works as a Senior Scientist at the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, where he co-authored Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think, which was published in March 2008.
He published Islam and Politics in 1984, and Islam: The Straight Path in 1988. Both books sold well, going through many editions. In addition to more than 35 books, he is editor-in-chief of a number of Oxford reference works including The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, The Oxford History of Islam,
The Oxford Dictionary of IslamThe Oxford Dictionary of Islam is a dictionary of Islam, with John Esposito as editor-in-chief.-Overview:It is designed for general readers with little or no knowledge of Islam and has more than 2,000 alphabetically arranged entries that treat on the religion of Islam and its impact on topics such...
, The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World (six vols.), and Oxford Islamic Studies Online.
In 1988, he was elected president of the
Middle East Studies Association of North AmericaMiddle East Studies Association of North America is a learned society, and according to its website, "a non-political association that fosters the study of the Middle East, promotes high standards of scholarship and teaching, and encourages public understanding of the region and its peoples...
(MESA). He has also served as president of the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies. He served as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Center for the Study of Islam & Democracy from 1999 to 2004 and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Council of 100 Leaders and the High Level Group of the U.N.
Alliance of CivilizationsThe Alliance of Civilizations is an initiative proposed by the Prime Minister of the Government of Spain, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, at the 59th General Assembly of the United Nations in 2005. It was co-sponsored by the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan...
. He was an advisor to the award-winning, PBS-broadcast documentary
Muhammad: Legacy of a ProphetMuhammad: Legacy of the Prophet is a PBS documentary film about the life of Islamic prophet Muhammad based on historical records and on the stories of living American Muslims who call Muhammad the Messenger of God...
(2002), produced by
Unity Productions Foundation. A recipient of the American Academy of Religion’s 2005 Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion and of Pakistan’s Quaid-e-Azam Award for Outstanding Contributions in Islamic Studies, in 2003 he received the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University Award for Outstanding Teaching.
He is currently Vice President (2012) and President Elect (2013) of the American Academy of Religion and a member of the E. C. European Network of Experts on De-Radicalisation and the board of C-1 World Dialogue and an ambassador for the UN Alliance of Civilizations.
Esposito founded the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University and is its current director. The center received a $20 million endowment from Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal "to advance education in the fields of
Islamic civilizationIslamic civilization may refer to:*Islamic Golden Age*Muslim world*Caliphate...
and Muslim-Christian understanding and strengthen its presence as a world leader in facilitating cross-cultural and inter-religious dialogue."
Following the September 11 attacks,
Campus WatchCampus Watch is a web-based project of the Middle East Forum, a think tank with its headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to its website, Campus Watch "reviews and critiques Middle East studies in North America with an aim to improving them." Critics of Campus Watch say that it is a...
repeatedly accused Esposito of being an Islamist apologist who downplayed the threat of terrorism.
Campus WatchCampus Watch is a web-based project of the Middle East Forum, a think tank with its headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to its website, Campus Watch "reviews and critiques Middle East studies in North America with an aim to improving them." Critics of Campus Watch say that it is a...
cited Esposito's remarks in early 2001 that ""focusing on Usama bin Laden risks catapulting one of the many sources of terrorism to center stage, distorting both the diverse international sources and the relevance of one man." Esposito claims that he does not condone terrorist violence and has supported the
Fatwa on TerrorismFatwa on Terrorism is a 600-page , 512-page Islamic decree by scholar Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri which demonstrates from the Quran and Sunnah that terrorism and suicide bombings are so unjust that their evil is un-Islamic. The English edition was published in the UK by Minhaj-ul-Quran Publications....
and Suicide Bombings issued by Muhammad
Tahir-ul-QadriMuhammad Tahir ul-Qadri is a Pakistani Sufi scholar and former professor of international constitutional law at the University of the Punjab....
. This fatwa, for which Esposito and
Joel HaywardJoel S.A. Hayward , is a New Zealand-born "noted scholar of war and strategy" who has worked in the United Kingdom since 2004.He is best known for his published books and articles on military matters, including the use of air power, his 2003 biography of Horatio Lord Nelson, and his writing and...
wrote the introductory sections, is one of the strongest condemnations of terrorism ever issued by a senior Islamic cleric.
Reference Works
- "The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World", as editor (2009, 5 volume set) ISBN 0-19-530513-5
- "Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think", coauthored with Dalia Mogahed
Dalia Mogahed is an American Muslim scholar of Egyptian origin. She is the Executive Director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, a non-partisan research center that provides data and analysis to reflect the views of Muslims all over the world. She was selected as an advisor by U.S...
(2008) ISBN 978-1-59562-017-0
- "The Oxford History of Islam", as editor (2004) ISBN 0-19-510799-3
- "The Islamic World: Past and Present", as editor (2004, 3 volume set) ISBN 0-19-516520-9
- "The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World", as editor (1995, 4 volume set) ISBN 0-19-506613-8
- "The Oxford Dictionary of Islam
The Oxford Dictionary of Islam is a dictionary of Islam, with John Esposito as editor-in-chief.-Overview:It is designed for general readers with little or no knowledge of Islam and has more than 2,000 alphabetically arranged entries that treat on the religion of Islam and its impact on topics such...
", as editor (1994) ISBN 0-19-512559-2
Nonfiction books
- "What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam" (1st edition: 2002. 2nd edition: 2011) ISBN 0-19-979413-3
- "The Future of Islam" (2010) ISBN: 0-19-516521-7
- "Islam: The Straight Path
Islam: The Straight Path is an Islamic studies book that aims to give an introduction to Islam. The book, authored by John L. Esposito, was first published in 1991 by the Oxford University Press.-Contents:The book consists of 6 chapters:...
" (1st edition: 1988, 3rd edition: 2004) ISBN 0-19-518266-9
- "Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam" (2002) ISBN 0-19-515435-5
- "Women in Muslim Family Law", coauthored with Natana J. Delong-Bas (2nd edition: 2002) ISBN 0-8156-2908-7
- "Makers of Contemporary Islam", coauthored John Voll (2001) ISBN 0-19-514128-8
- "The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?" (3rd edition: 1999) ISBN 0-19-513076-6
- "Political Islam: Radicalism, Revolution or Reform" (1997) ISBN 1-55587-168-2
Academic collections
- "Islamophobia: The Challenge of Pluralism in the 21st Century" as coeditor with Ibrahim Kalin (2011) ISBN: 0-19-975364-2
- "Islam in Asia: Religion, Politics, & Society", as editor (2006) ISBN 0-19-504082-1
- "Turkish Islam and the Secular State: The Gulen Movement", as coeditor with M. Hakan Yavuz (2003) ISBN 0-8156-3040-9
- "Modernizing Islam: Religion in the Public Sphere in the Middle East and Europe", as coeditor with Francois Burgat
François Burgat, a political scientist and arabist, is Senior Research Fellow at the French National Centre for Scientific Research; since May 2008 he has been the head of the French Institute of the Near East....
(2003) ISBN 0-8135-3198-5
- "Iran at the Crossroads", as coeditor with R.K. Ramazani (2000) ISBN 0-312-23816-9
- "Islam, Gender and Social Change", as coeditor with Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad (1997) ISBN 0-19-511357-8
- "Islam and Politics", as editor (1st edition: 1984, 4th edition: 1998) ISBN 0-8156-2774-2
- "Islam and Democracy", as coeditor with John Voll (1996) ISBN 0-19-510816-7
External links
Interviews
- John Esposito Radio Interview, NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
's All Things ConsideredAll Things Considered is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio. It was the first news program on NPR, and is broadcast live worldwide through several outlets...
- Bill Moyers Talks with Dr. John Esposito, PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....