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The Christian-Muslim Studies Network just concluded a Summer School on Christian Engagement with Islam (for the first time in Edinburgh!) on Friday, so I decided to take this week to reflect and look back on our very first course on interfaith engagement for Christian leaders. We hope to keep these courses coming (perhaps for Muslim leaders, Christian leaders, or a mix of both) in future, so watch this space as we continue forward. Contemporary Christian-Muslim relations has become a global…

A conference report for ‘Religion, Politics, and Critique: Comparative Political Theology’ This conference concluded in February 2019, but bios for participants and video recordings of presentations are available. What might ‘political theology’ – often seen as a Western or Christian discourse – contribute to discussion of religion, politics, and the secular in the Middle East? Is the discipline inappropriate to any tradition outside of Europe and the West, or are useful contributions yet awaiting the proper approach? To address this…

Al-Suyuti: Then and Now – A reflection By Ali Al Lawati The following is a reflection by Ali Al Lawati, a postgraduate student in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Within Islamic scholarly history, notable scholars are often introduced and described by their students using lavish terms. Exaggerated references are made to the scholar’s superior characteristics of knowledge, worship, piety or others. The case of Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d. 1505) provides an alternative case in that…

We have to change the conversation so that we can address them in such a way that Christians and Muslims can work together towards solutions.

By Samuel Nwokoro This post was contributed by Samuel Nwokoro, a PhD student with the Christian-Muslim Studies Network. He offers a reflection on a lecture given at New College by Prof Christian C. Sahner of Oxford. The scholarly story of early Islam can often be dominated by the conquest narratives. This is how many stories were written by early sources. This likely reflects the interests of early historians, who were concerned about key persons and the roles they played in…

School of Divinity hosts AAR-funded workshop Contributed by Dr Ulrich Schmiedel The School of Divinity at Edinburgh hosted the concluding workshop of ‘Liberalism’s Islams and Islam’s Liberalisms: Constructing a Contrast in a Paradigmatic Period’. The international and interdisciplinary research project received funding from the American Academy of Religion. Debates about religion inside and outside academia frequently assume that Islam is in conflict with liberalism as much as liberalism is in conflict with Islam. The one-year research project brings together scholars…

 A celebration of Christianity, unity, and nationalism The author of this post, Elizabeth Marteijn, is currently a PhD candidate in World Christianity at the University of Edinburgh. Her research brings together the methods of theology and ethnography in her doctoral study on Palestinian Christianity. It’s heavy raining at 9 pm in the evening – the time people are entering the Church of Saint Catherine in Bethlehem. People are rushing,pushing and shouting. Palestinian soldiers with guns try to keep order. A…

By Josef Linnhoff Editor’s Note: This is Part Two of a series of posts contributed by Josef Linnhoff. These posts represent part of his doctoral research in Christian-Muslim Relations and Islamic Studies at the University of Edinburgh and include creative interpretation of a previous publication from Dr Joshua Ralston. Students interested in applying for the degree programmes offered through the Christian-Muslim Studies Network may see the website for the School of Divinity or contact Dr Ralston directly. My early post, Part…