Aaron Hughes

Associate Professor, Western Religions, Nature of Religions

Department of Religious Studies
University of Calgary
Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4
Canada

Office: Social Sciences 1308
Phone: (403) 220-7063
Fax: (403) 210-0801
Email: hughesa@ucalgary.ca

Education

B.A. [Alberta]; M.A, Ph.D. [Indiana]

Areas of Interest

Jewish Thought and Philosophy; Critical Discourses in the Study of Religion

Current Graduate Students

MA
Aaron Jensen
Yasmin Merchant

Selected Publications

Books:

The Art of Dialogue in Jewish Philosophy. Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, 2008.

Situating Islam: The Past and Future of an Academic Discipline. London:
Equinox Press, 2008.

Jewish Philosophy, A-Z. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005
(Published in North America by Palgrave Macmillan).

The Texture of the Divine: Imagination in Medieval Islamic and Jewish
Thought. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004.

Edited Volumes:

New Directions in Jewish Philosophy. Edited by Aaron W. Hughes and Elliot
R. Wolfson. Bloomington: Indiana University Press (Fall, 2009).

Defining Judaism: A Reader. Edited by Aaron W. Hughes. London: Equinox
Press (Fall, 2009)

Books under Contract:

Situating Judaism: Identity, Authenticity, Scholarship. London Equinox
Press.

Chapters in Edited Books:

“Introduction: Charting An Alternative Course for the Study of Jewish
Philosophy” (with Elliot R. Wolfson). In New Directions in Jewish
Philosophy. Edited by Aaron W. Hughes and Elliot R. Wolfson.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press (Fall, 2009).

“Precursorship and the Forgetting of History: Franz Rosenzweig and Saadya
Gaon on the Memory of Translation “In New Directions in Jewish
Philosophy. Edited by Aaron W. Hughes and Elliot R. Wolfson. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press (Fall, 2009).

“Introduction: Judaism, Judaisms, Jewish.” In Defining Judaism: A Reader.
Edited by Aaron W. Hughes. London: Equinox (Fall, 2009).

“Expanding the Canon of Jewish Philosophy: Towards an Appreciation of
Genre.” In Defining Judaism: A Reader. Edited by Aaron W. Hughes.
London: Equinox (Fall, 2009).

“Medieval Philosophers in Modern Jewish Philosophy: A Case Study of
Dialogism.” In The Cambridge History of Jewish Philosophy: The Modern
Era. Edited by Martin Kavka and David Novak. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2009 (forthcoming).

“Miraj and the Language of Legitimation in the Medieval Islamic and Jewish
Philosophical Traditions.” In Exploring Other Worlds: New Studies on
Muhammad’s Ascension. Edited by Christiane Grubar and Fredrick S. Colby.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009 (accepted and forthcoming).

“Jewish Neoplatonists on Soul.” In Medieval Christian, Jewish, and Muslim
Thinkers on the Human Soul. Edited by John Dillon and Maha El-Kaisy
Friemuth. (under consideration at press)

“Boundary Maintenance: Religions as Organic-Cultural Flows. On Thomas
Tweed (2005): Crossing and Dwelling.” In Contemporary Theories of
Religion: A Critical Companion. Edited by Michael Stausberg. London and
New York: Routledge, 2009 (accepted and forthcoming).

“Cities of Gold: Teaching Religion and Violence Through “Sacred Space.”
In Teaching Religion and Violence. Edited by Brian Henderson and Amir
Hussain. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press (forthcoming).

“Intelligible Beauty and Artistic Creation: The Renaissance Platonism of
Judah Abravanel.” In Platonism and Forms of Intelligence: Proceedings of
the International Symposium, Hvar 2006, 293-308. Edited by John Dillon and
Marie-Élise Zovko. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2008

“Jewish Philosophies: Update.” In Ninian Smart’s World Philosophies, 2nd
ed., 223-242. Edited by Oliver Leaman. New York: Routledge, 2008.

“Contextualizing Contexts:, Loss of Focus: Orientalism and Geiger’s Was
hat Mohammed aus dem Judenthume auggenommen Reconsidered.” In "Im vollen
Licht der Geschichte”: Die Wissenschaft des Judentums und die Anfänge der
kritischen Koranforschung, 87-98. Edited by Dirk Hartwig, Walter Homolka,
Michael J. Marx & Angelika Neuwirth. Wuerzburg: Ergon Verlag, 2008.

“Epigone, Innovator, or Apologist?: The Case of Judah Abravanel.” In
Epigonism and The Dynamics of Jewish Culture (= Studia Rosenthaliana 40),
109-125. Edited by Shlomo Berger and Irene Zweip. Louvain: Peeters, 2007.

“Outside Looking In, Inside Looking Out: An Epilogue (of sorts). In
Religious Studies in Canada: Past, Present, and Future (= Studies in
Religion/Sciences religieuses 35/3-4), 561-575. Edited by Michel Gardaz.
Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2006.

“’The Torah Speaks in the Language of Humans’: On Some Uses of Plato’s
Theory of Myth in Medieval Islamic and Jewish Philosophy.” In Plato
Redivivus: Studies in the History of Platonism, 237-252. Edited by John
Finamore and Rob Berchman. New Orleans: University Press of the South,
2005.

“The Golden Age of Muslim Spain: Religious Identity and the Invention of a
Tradition in Modern Jewish Studies.” In Historicizing “Tradition” in the
Study of Religion, 51-74. Edited by Steven Engler and Greg Greive.
Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2005.

“Abrabanel, Judah.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Edited
by Edward N. Zalta (Winter 2005 Edition),
<http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2005/entries/abrabanel>

Articles:

“Maimonides and the Pre-Maimonidean Jewish Philosophical Tradition
According to Hermann Cohen.” (under review).

“The Reception of Yehudah Abravanel Among Conversos in the 17th Century: A
Case Study of Abraham Kohen de Herrera.” Bruniana e Campanelliana 14.2
(2008): 463-477.

“A Note on the Reception History of the Dialoghi d’Amore: The Case of
Abraham Kohen de Herrera.” Zutot 5 (2008): 103-109.

“The Art of Philosophy: The Use of Dialogue in Halevi’s Kuzari and
Abravanel’s Dialoghi.” Medieval Encounters 13.3(2007): 470-498.

“Haven’t We Been Here Before?: Rehabilitating ‘Religion’ in Light of
Dubuisson’s Critique.” Part of “Review Symposium: Critical Perspectives
on Dubuisson’s The Western Construction of Religion.” Religion 36.1
(2006): 127-131.

“Transforming the Maimonidean Imagination: Aesthetics in the Renaissance
Thought of Judah Abravanel.” Harvard Theological Review 97.4 (2004):
461-484.

“A Case of 12TH-Century Plagiarism? Abraham ibn Ezra’s Hay ben Meqitz and
Avicenna’s Hayy ibn Yaqzân.” Journal of Jewish Studies 55.2(2004):
306-331.

“Mapping Constructions of Islamic Space in North America: A Framework for
Further Inquiry.” Studies in Religion 33.3-4 (2004): 339-357

“The Stranger at the Sea: Mythopoesis in the Qur’ân and Early Tafsîr.”
Studies in Religion 32.3 (2003): 261-279.

“Making the Past Present: the Genre of Commentary in Comparative
Perspective.” Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 15.2 (2003):
148-168.

“The Three Worlds of ibn Ezra’s Hay ben Meqitz.” Journal of Jewish
Thought and Philosophy 11.1 (2002): 1-24.

“Imagining the Divine: Ghazali’s Defense of Dreams and Dreaming.” Journal
of the American Academy of Religion 70.1 (2002): 33-53.

“Reading Islamic Philosophy: Recent Contributions in the Field of
Suhrawardî Studies.” Religious Studies Review 68.1 (2002): 19-24.

“Two Approaches to the Love of God in Medieval Jewish Thought: The Concept
of devequt in the Works of Ibn Ezra and Halevi.” Sciences Religeuses/
Studies in Religion 28.2 (1999): 139-152.

Encyclopedia Articles:

“Andalus, al-”; “Asabiyya”; “Heresiography”; “Science, Islam and.”
Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World. (New York: Macmillan, 2004).

“Islam in the Mid West.” Encyclopedia of the Mid West (Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, forthcoming 2006).

Recent Book Reviews:

“Review of Discourse on Civility and Barbarity: A Critical History of
Religion and Related Categories” by Timothy Fitzgerald. Religion
38(2008): 397-399.

“Review of Crossing and Dwelling: A Theory of Religion” by Thomas A.
Tweed. Studies in Religion/Sciences religieuses 34.3-4 (2007): 192-193.

“Review of Islamic Aesthetics: An Introduction” by Oliver Leaman.Journal
of Religion 85.1 (2005): 699-700.

“Review of Search Scripture Well: Karaite Exegetes and the Origins of the
Jewish Bible Commentary in the Islamic East” by Daniel Frank. Review of
Biblical Literature 03.2005.

“Review of The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Jewish Philosophy” edited
by Daniel H. Frank and Oliver Leaman. Studies in Religion 33.3-4 (2004):
455-457

“Review of Maimonides and the Hermeneutics of Concealment” by James Arthur
Diamond. Journal of the American Academy of Religion 72.1 (2004):
249-252.

INVITED LECTURES

“Creative Misreadings: The Bible, Philosophy, and Translation.” Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies. King’s University College at the University of Western Ontario. November 26, 2008.

“Research Presentation.” Program in Jewish Studies/Department of History.
University of Oklahoma. April 02, 2008.

“Jewish Philosophy as a Way of Life.” Annual Ben Meyer Lecture. Hamilton Jewish Center. March 31, 2008.

“The Implosion of a Discipline: 9/11 and the Islamic Studies Scholar as Media Expert.” Department of Religious Studies, McMaster University. March 19, 2008.

“Confessions of a Jewish Expert in Islam: Teaching Islamic Studies Since 9/11.” Department of Religious Studies and the Program in Jewish Studies.
University of Waterloo. March 12, 2008.

“Medieval Jewish Thought: Why? How? What for?” Inaugural Herb and CeCe Schreiber Lectureship. McMaster University. January 15, 2008.

“The Implosion of a Discipline: 9/11 and the Islamic Studies Scholar as Media Expert.” Department of Religion, Bowdoin College. November 29, 2007.

"Abraham Kohen Herrera and the Jewish Philosophical Tradition in the Renaissance.” 1st Dubrovnik Interfaith Encounter on Renaissance Philosophy: Honoring Abraham Kohen Herrera 1570-1635. Dubrovnk, Croatia. September 28-29, 2007.

“Intelligible Beauty and Artistic Creation: The Renaissance Platonism of Judah Abravanel.” MARCS lecture. University of Calgary. January 17, 2007.

“Intelligible Beauty and Artistic Creation: The Renaissance Platonism of Judah Abravanel.” Colloquium on Platonism and Forms of Intelligence. Zagreb Institute of Philosophy. Hvar, Croatia. October 9-13, 2006.

“The Hebrew Hayy: Abraham ibn Ezra’s Hay ben Meqitz.” Centre D’Histoires des Sciences et des Philosophies Arabes et Médiévales. University of Paris, C.N.R.S. April 29, 2006.

“Medieval Hebrew Poetry of Initiation.” Colloquium on Medieval Arabic and Hebrew Poetry. Harvard University. August 27-29, 2006.

“Secrecy and Self: Esotericism and Philosophical Genres in Islamicate Spain.” Program in Religious Studies, University of Alberta. October 11, 2005.

“Metaphoric Vision and the Effacement of Language: Anticipation from Rosenzweig to Halevi.” International Workshop on “Image, Matter, Body: Poetic and Visual Representations of Divinity in Jewish and Islamic Esoteric Traditions. Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main. June 19-23, 2005.

“The Art of Philosophy: On Judah Halevi’s and Judah Abravanel’s Use of Dialogue,” Department of Jewish Thought, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, June 2, 2005.

“Halevi, Dialogue, and the Art of Reading.” Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, and Religious Studies Program, New York University, April 21, 2005.

“The Dialogue in Medieval and Renaissance Jewish Thought: A Case Study of Judah Halevi and Judah Abravanel.” Ben Gurion University of the Negev (Beer Sheva), Department of Jewish Thought. April 11, 2005

“A Jewish Best Seller in Renaissance Italy: Judah Abravanel’s Dialoghi d’Amore.” Penn State University, Program in Jewish Studies. January 27, 2005.

“Epigone, Innovator, or Apologist: The Case of Judah Abravanel.” Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Judaic Studies. July 01, 2004.

“Jewish Imagination and Renaissance Italy: The Case of Judah Abravanel’s Dialoghi d’amore.” University of Kentucky, Program in Judaic Studies. March 1, 2004.

“Jews are Good to Think With: Muslim Representations of the Other.” University of Regina, Department of Religious Studies. January 30, 2003.

“The Texture of the Divine: Ibn Tufayl’s Philosophical Imagination.” University of Alberta, Departments of Comparative Literature, Religious Studies and Philosophy. November 6, 2002.

“Memory and the Fullness of Time: Jewish and Muslim Calendars.” For the series “Marking Time: Making Memory” Miami University Art Museum, March 21, 2001

“The Qur’ân and Its Development.” University of British Columbia, Department of Classical, Near Eastern, and Religious Studies, January 26, 2001.

“The Image of Pythagoras in Medieval Islamic Philosophy.” Miami University Medieval Studies Lecture Series, October 31, 2000

“Between Muslim and Jew: Philosophy and the Contours of Religious Identity in the Middle Ages.” McGill University, Departments of Jewish Studies and Islamic Studies, January 12, 2000.

“The Stranger at the Sea: Q 18/60-82 and its Interpretation in Early Tafsir.” Miami University of Ohio, Department of Comparative Religion, January 24, 2000.

“Islam and Its Minorities: Crosspollinations and Selfdefinitions.” Gettysburg College, Department of Religious Studies, February 2, 2000.

“The Philosophical Novel in Medieval Islam and Judaism.” Religious Studies and Philosophy Faculty Colloquium, Mount Allison University, January 06, 2000.