Near and Middle Eastern Studies / Studying the Near and Middle East at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, 1935-2018

Product Description
The history of Near and Middle Eastern Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study dates back to 1935, and it is the one area of scholarship that has been continuously represented at the Institute ever since, encompassing all four schools - Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Historical Studies, and Social Science. The volume opens with a historical sketch of the study of the Near and Middle East at the Institute, discussing luminaries such as Ernst Herzfeld, Henri Seyrig, Ernst Kantorowicz, Otto Neugebauer, Marshall Clagett, Clifford Geertz, Bernard Lewis, Glen Bowersock, Oleg Grabar, and Patricia Crone and their respective impact on the field. The second part of the volume, "Fruits of Scholarship", consists of essays and short studies by IAS scholars, past and present-faculty, members, and visitors; mathematicians, social scientists, and historians-who are engaged in one way or another with the Near and Middle East in their scholarship. Their contributions cover fields such as the ancient Near East and early Islamic history, the Bible and the Qur'an, Islamic intellectual history within and beyond denominational history, Arabic and other Semitic languages and literatures, Islamic religious and legal practices, law and society, the Islamic West, the Ottoman world, Iranian studies, the modern Middle East, and Islam in the West.
Review
""From the first writing down of the Bible to why a Jihadi weeps in modern Syria, this collection is a display of up-to-date scholarship at its best. Almost every aspect of the long history of the Middle East is discussed, each from a fresh point of view. Sabine Schmidtke has gathered a heartening testimony to how modern scholars can contribute to a debate which concerns us all."" --Peter Brown

""For over 80 years, the program of Near and Middle Eastern Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey has provided scholarly depth, insight, and innovation. This important reference book is timely and welcome. The volume, edited by Professor Sabine Schmidtke, contains an overview of the institution's many historical contributions to the field of Near and Middle Eastern Studies. It provides a much needed historical depth and perspective. This instructive, comprehensive, and excellent guide is designed to serve not only the needs of well-established scholars but also aspiring students."" --Vartan Gregorian
About the Author
Sabine Schmidtke is Professor of Islamic Intellectual History at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. She has published extensively on Islamic and Jewish intellectual history, as well as the Muslim reception of the Bible and its early translation history into Arabic. Her works include "Theologie, Philosophie und Mystik im zwölferschiitischen Islam des 9./15. Jahrhunderts: Die Gedankenwelten des Ibn Ab umh r al-A s" (um 838/1434-35 nach 906/1501) (Brill, 2000), "The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology" (OUP, 2016), and, together with Hassan Ansari, "Studies in Medieval Islamic Intellectual Traditions" (Lockwood Press, 2017). She is also the executive editor of "Intellectual History of the Islamicate World" (Brill) and, with Hassan Ansari, of "Shii Studies Review" (Brill).