Holy Cross to Host Conference on Future of Scholarship on the Quran

The College of the Holy Cross will hold a conference titled “The Future of Scholarship on the Quran” on April 9 and 10. Ingrid Mattson, Muslim scholar and interfaith activist, will offer the keynote address, “Don’t Frown and Turn Away: Muslim Scholars and the Study of the Qur’an,” to open the conference at 10 a.m. on Saturday. All of the conference sessions will be held in Rehm Library and are free and open to the public.

Over the two days, conference sessions will explore the relationship of traditional Islamic scholarship to Western academic study, considering matters such as who should interpret the Quran, what standards for scholarship should be set, and how scholarship can inform public conversation on the Quran. View the full conference schedule here.

Mattson is London and Windsor Community Chair in Islamic Studies at Huron University College at the University of Western Ontario. From 1998 to 2012 she was professor of Islamic studies at Hartford Seminary, where she developed and directed the first accredited graduate program for Muslim chaplains in America, and served as director of the Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations. She was the first woman to serve as vice president and president of the Islamic Society of North America. Her book, The Story of the Qur’an, (Wiley-Blackwell 2007) is an academic best-seller and was chosen by the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities for inclusion in its “Bridging Cultures” program.

Mattson served on the Interfaith Taskforce of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships; she was on the Council of Global Leaders of the C-100 of the World Economic Forum; and she was a member of the Leadership Group of the U.S.-Muslim Engagement Project.

Other presenters at the conference will include:

• Joseph Lumbard, assistant professor of Arabic and translation studies at the American University of Sharjah • Maria Massi Dakake, associate professor and chair of religious studies at George Mason University • Mahan Mirza, dean of faculty at Zaytuna College • Juliane Hammer, associate professor and Kenan Rifai Scholar of Islamic studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • Martin Nguyen, associate professor of Islamic religious traditions and faculty chair for diversity at Fairfield University • Zareena Grewal, associate professor of American studies, religious studies, Middle East studies, and ethnicity, race, and migration at Yale University • Walid Saleh, associate professor in the study of religion and near and Middle Eastern civilizations at the University of Toronto • Isra Yazicioglu, associate professor of Islamic studies at Saint Joseph’s University.

The conference is organized by Caner Dagli, associate professor of religious studies at Holy Cross and co-editor of “The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary” (HarperCollins, 2015). The conference is sponsored by the Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J. Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture. Learn more here.

 

About the Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J. Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture:

Established in 2001 and housed in Smith Hall, the McFarland Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture provides resources for faculty and course development, sponsors conferences and college-wide teaching events, hosts visiting fellows, and coordinates a number of campus lecture series. Rooted in the College's commitment to invite conversation about basic human questions, the Center welcomes persons of all faiths and seeks to foster dialogue that acknowledges and respects differences, providing a forum for intellectual exchange that is interreligious, interdisciplinary, intercultural, and international in scope. The Center also brings members of the Holy Cross community into conversation with the Greater Worcester community, the academic community, and the wider world to examine the role of faith and inquiry in higher education and in the larger culture.