Faculty
John Renard, Ph.D.
Professor
renardgj@slu.edu
Education
Ph.D. Islamic Studies, Harvard
MA Biblical Studies, Saint Louis University
Publications
Scholarly Books
Knowledge of God in Classical Sufism: Foundations of Islamic Mystical Theology. Peer-reviewed proposal accepted by Paulist Press Classics of Western Spirituality Series, contract signed for Dec. 2002 delivery date--a selection of Medieval texts translated from Arabic and Persian on the theme of "experiential knowledge."
Islam and the Heroic Image: Themes in Literature and the Visual Arts. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1999, paperback edition. Original cloth edition: Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1993. 342 pp., 17 ill.
Windows on the House of Islam: Muslim Sources of Spirituality and Religious Life, A Sourcebook of Texts and Images designed as companion to Seven Doors to Islam (below), University of California Press, 1998. Edited 74 translations by 33 scholars from 12 languages; contributed eight from Arabic and one from Persian, along with my own photos for half of the 66 illustrations; 450 pp. Indian edition -- New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 2000.
Seven Doors to Islam: Spirituality and the Religious Life of Muslims. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. 350 pp., 38 ill. Indian edition -- New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1998. Selection anthologized in The Spread of Islam, ed. C. Swisher (San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999) 125-33.
All the King's Falcons: Rumi on Prophets and Revelation. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994.
Letters on the Sufi Path by Ibn `Abbad of Ronda, translation from Arabic, with Introduction and Notes, a Volume in the Classics of Western Spirituality series (peer-reviewed). New York: Paulist Press, 1986.
Academic Reference
A Historical Dictionary of Sufism, Scarecrow Press, an imprint of Rowman and Littlefield, under contract for delivery in 2004
General Interest Books
Responses to 101 Questions on Chinese and Japanese Religion, delivered under contract to Paulist Press, forthcoming Sept 2002 (heavily edited material from the last three chapters of The Handy Religion Answer Book [see below], with permission from VIP)
Understanding the Islamic Experience. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2002. An updated and expanded edition, adding full index, timeline, glossary, and all new photos by the author, of In the Footsteps of Muhammad: Understanding the Islamic Experience. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1992. Phillipines edition, Manila: St. Paul's Press, 1999.
Scholarly Articles, Encyclopedia Entries
"Khadir/Khidr," delivered under contract for Jane D. McAuliffe, ed., Encyclopedia of the Qur'an (Leiden: E. J. Brill, forthcoming), Vol II
"Bayezid al-Bistami," "Fakhr ad-Din Razi," "Abu Nasr as-Sarraj," "Hikmah," and "Hafez," for The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, John Esposito, ed., (New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming)
"Picturing Holy Places: On the Uses of Architectural Symbolism in Icon and Ornament," Religion and the Arts 5:4 (2001) 399-428. 13 illustrations
"Adoration (26-27)," "Alexander/Iskandar (61-62)," "Deliverance (518-19)," "Despair (521-22)," Jane D. McAuliffe, ed., Encyclopedia of the Qur'an (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2001), Vol. I.
"Comparative Theology: Definition and Method," Religious Studies and Theology 17:1 (1999) 3-18
"Low Roofs Over Infinity: Architectural Miniatures in a Typology of Ritual Object," Religion and the Arts 2:3 (1998) 343-75, 16 illustrations
"Comparative Religious Architecture: Islamic and Hindu Ritual Space," Religion and the Arts 1:4 (1997) 62-88, 8 illustrations
"A Method for Comparative Studies in Religious Visual Arts: Approaching Architecture," Religion and the Arts 1:1 (1996) 100-123, 4 illustrations
Recent Courses Taught
- Medieval Seminar
- Comparative Theology