Opening Remarks
Anthea Butler, Department Chair, Religious Studies, UPenn
Panel Discussion
Jack Tannous (Princeton)
“Religion and Theology: What difference does it make?”
In this brief talk, I will discuss whether there is a difference between attempting to de-center theology when studying the medieval Middle East and attempting to de-center religion and what, if any difference, this might make for how we think about this region in the premodern period.
Jack Tannous is an Associate Professor of History and Hellenic Studies at Princeton University, where he teaches classes on late antiquity and the middle ages.
Marion Katz (NYU)
“An Age of Faith? The paradoxes of Studying Pre-Modern Islam”
An overemphasis on religion has been a defining feature of Orientalism, but it also behooves us to take seriously the elements of faith in our sources.
Marion Holmes Katz is a professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University. She has published extensively on topics relating to Islamic law, gender, and ritual
Muriel Debié (PSL)