James W. Morris

EDUCATION
University of Chicago, B.A. in Civilizational Studies, 1971.
Harvard University, PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, 1980.
Other graduate studies: Casablanca, Morocco; University of Strasbourg; American University of Cairo; Iranian Academy of Philosophy; Center for the Study of Civilizations, Tehran.

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Prior to joining Boston College, Professor Morris held the Sharjah Chair of Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, and he has taught previously at Princeton University, Oberlin College, Temple University, and the Institute of Ismaili Studies in Paris and London.  He has served as visiting professor at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Paris), University of Malaya, and University of Sarajevo, and he lectures and gives workshops widely throughout Europe and the Muslim world.

TEACHING
Encountering the Qur’an: Contexts and Approaches
Mystical Poetry in the Islamic Humanities
Prophetic Tradition: Exploring the Hadith
Remembrance of God: Liturgy, Devotion, and Spiritual Practice in the Islamic Humanities
Pathways to God: the Spectrum of Islamic Theologies
Introduction to Islamic Philosophical Traditions
The Religious Quest: Comparative Perspectives

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Prof. Morris serves on numerous international editorial, consulting, and examining boards in his fields, and he is currently president of the Rumi Institute’s international advisory council, honorary Life Fellow of the Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabī Society, member of the RAE national panel for Middle East and Islamic Studies (UK), former national board member of British Institute for Middle East Studies, as well as a longtime member of the Société Asiatique (Paris), Middle East Studies Association, American Academy of Religion, Society for Iranian Studies, American Oriental Society, Société Internationale d'Histoire des Sciences et de la Philosophie Arabes et Islamiques, British Institute for Persian Studies, and the British Association for the Study of Religion.  See Personal Website link for additional details.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
His most recent books include Knowledge of the Soul (2006); The Reflective Heart: Discovering Spiritual Intelligence in Ibn ‘Arabī’s ‘Meccan Illuminations (2005); Orientations: Islamic Thought in a World Civilisation (2004); Ibn ‘Arabī: The Meccan Revelations (2002); The Master and the Disciple: An Early Islamic Spiritual Dialogue (2002), and several website volumes.  See Personal Website link for a detailed list of other publications, upcoming public appearances and workshops, research projects, and forthcoming books.

PUBLICATIONS SINCE 2002
Books:
Knowing the Spirit, by Nur Ali Elahi.  Introduction and annotated translation of his Kitāb Ma‘rifat ar-Rūh (Albany, SUNY Press, 2006).

The Reflective Heart: Discovering Spiritual Intelligence in Ibn ‘Arabī’s ‘Meccan Illuminations’. Louisville, Fons Vitae, 2005.  (Indonesian, Turkish and Bosnian translations in preparation.)

Orientations: Islamic Thought in a World Civilisation.  London, Archetype Press, 2004.  (Arabic, Urdu, and French translations in preparation).

Yonelimler: Bir Dunya Medeniyetinde Islam Dusuncesi.  Istanbul, Insan yayinlari [Humanities Press], 2006. (Turkish translation by Prof. M. Kiliç.)

Sufi-Sufi Merajut Peradaban. Jakarta, Forum Sebangsa, 2003.  (Indonesian translation by B. Harun.)

Orientacije: Islamska Misao u Svjetskoj Civilizaciji.  Sarajevo, El-Kalem, 2002 (Serbo-Croatian translation of earlier version, by Professors H. N. Kahteran, R. Hafizović, A. Silajdžić.)

Ibn ‘Arabī: The Meccan Revelations (co-author with W. Chittick).  New York, Pir Press, 2002.

Web-based Volumes: (free for downloading)
Ibn ‘Arabī and His Interpreters: Historical Contexts and Contemporary Perspectives, 226 pages.  Collection of more than thirty monographs, shorter articles and related reviews, freely downloadable in .pdf format at www.ibnarabisociety.org.

Ibn ‘Arabī on Spiritual Practice (and related translations), 173 pages.  Collection of ten articles and translations (some previously published; others to appear in new volumes in preparation), freely downloadable in .pdf format at www.ibnarabisociety.org.

Monographs, Articles and Chapters:
An Arab “Machiavelli”? : Rhetoric, Philosophy and Politics in Ibn Khaldun’s Critique of Sufism.  To appear in Harvard Middle Eastern and Islamic Review, XI (2007) (special issue: proceedings of Harvard Ibn Khaldun Conference, ed. Roy Mottahedeh).

From Cordoba to Isfahan, and Beyond: Mulla Sadra, Ibn ‘Arabī and the Emerging Science of Spirituality.  To appear in Proceedings of the Isfahan Conference on Islamic Philosophy (‘Cordoba and Isfahan: Two Schools of Islamic Philosophy’), ed. H. Landolt and M. Mohaghegh (title and publisher t.b.a.), 2007.

Remembrance and Repetition: Qur'anic Foundations of Islamic Art.  To appear (in Persian) in Kīmiyā’, 2007.

Encountering the Qur’an: Contexts and Approaches.  Chapter to appear in Voices of Islamic Tradition, ed. V. J. Cornell.  Westport, CT, Praeger, 2006.

Islamic Studies and ‘Religious Education’ in UK Universities and Secondary Schools: Contrasts with Religious Studies in North America.  To appear in Actes de la session européenne: “Le fait religieux comme objet de savoir,” ed. J. Dubois, Paris, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, 2006.

The Mysteries of Ihsān: Natural Contemplation and the Spiritual Virtues in the Qur’an.  To appear (in Persian) in Kīmiyā’, 2006.

From Ethics and Devotion to Spiritual Realisation: Ibn ‘Arabī on ‘What Is Indispensable For the Spiritual Seeker’.  To appear in Katha, vol. II, Kuala Lumpur, 2006.

Ibn ‘Arabī in the ‘Far West’: Spiritual Influences and the Science of Spirituality.  To appear in Journal of the History of Sufism, V (2006) (special issue: proceedings of Kyoto Conference on Ibn ‘Arabi’s Influences in Asia, ed. Y. Tonaga).

Spiritual Authority and Universal Revelation: Ibn ‘Arabi’s Reconception of the Foundations of Islamic ‘Law’.  To appear in Islamic Philosophy and Theology: Critical Concepts in Islamic Thought, ed. I. Netton, Routledge, 2006, vol. I.

‘Second Readings’: Ibn ‘Arabī’s Futūhāt and the Renewal of Islamic Thought.  To appear in Proceedings of Ibn ‘Arabi Colloquium, Cordoba, 2006.

Freedoms and Responsibilities: Ibn ‘Arabī and the Political Dimensions of Spiritual Realisation.  To appear in Journal of the Muhyiddīn Ibn ‘Arabī Society, Part I, vol. XXXVIII (2005), pp. 1-21; and Part II, vol. XXXIX (2006), pp. 85-110.

Civilization as Dialogue: Spirituality and Philosophy in Mullā Sadrā and Today.  In Mulla Sadra’s School and Western Philosophies: Papers Presented at the Second World Congress on Mulla Sadra, vol. I, ed. A. N. Bagershahi, Tehran, SIPRin, 2005, pp. 261-272.

Religion After Religions?: Henry Corbin and the Future of the Study of Religion.  In Philosophies et Sagesses des Religions du Livre, ed. P. Lory and M. Amir-Moezzi, Tournhout, Brépols Publishers, 2005, pp. 21-32.

Mulla Sadrā’s Conception of the Barzakh and the Emerging Science of Spirituality: The Process of Realization (tahqīq).  In Islam-West Philosophical Dialogue (Papers Presented at the First World Congress on Mulla Sadra), Tehran, SIPRI Institute, 2005, vol. X, pp. 93-103.

Revisiting Religious Shiism and Early Sufism: The Fourth/Tenth-Century Dialogue of ‘The Sage and the Young Disciple.’  In Islamic Studies: Papers on Historiography, Sufism and Philosophy in Honour of Hermann Landolt, ed. T. Lawson and I. Miller.  London, Institute of Ismaili Studies, 2005, pp. 104-120.

Surrender and Realisation: Imam ‘Ali on the Conditions for True Religious Understanding.  In Rūh al-Dín: Islam and the Religio Perennis, I:1 (2005), pp. 1-13.

Ibn ‘Arabī’s Rhetoric of Realisation: Keys to Reading and ‘Translating’ the Meccan Illuminations.  Part I in Journal of the Muhyiddīn Ibn ‘Arabī Society, vol. XXXIII (2003), pp. 54-99; Part II, vol. XXXIV (2003), pp. 103-145.

Understanding Religion and Inter-Religious Understanding: Four Classical Muslim Thinkers.  Monograph: Kuala Lumpur, Center for Civilisational Dialogue, 2003.

Rhetoric and Realisation in Ibn ‘Arabi: How Can We Communicate His Meanings Today?  In Ibn ‘Arabī and the World Today, ed. M. Mesbahi, pp. 62-77.  Rabat, Mohammed V University, 2003.

L’éveil de l’intelligence spirituelle et les dimensions du processus éthique selon Ostad Elahi.  Chapter 7, pp. 86-98, in Dieu a-t-il sa place dans l’éthique?, Paris, l’Harmattan, 2002.

The Unique Opportunities and Challenges Facing American Muslims in the New Century.  In The American Muslim (online), vol. 12 (2002), pp. 17-26.

Short Articles and Interviews:
Songs and Interrogations: Rumi’s Dialogues With God, preface to Songs of Rumi, transl. I. Anvar and A. Tweedy (NY, Pir Press, 2006)

Symphonie du Soufisme, symphonie de l’Esprit, postface for French translation of Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, In Search of the Hidden Treasure: A Conference of Sufis, forthcoming Paris, 2006.

Doors to Islamic Civilization, audio presentation for Cosmophilia: Islamic Art from the David Collection and related article in BC Magazine, Fall 2006.  Boston College, McMullen Museum of Art, September-December 2006.

Eschatology and Spiritual Realisation in Ibn ‘Arabi’s ‘Meccan Illuminations,’ in Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society Newsletter, vol. 19 (summer 2003), pp. 8-10.

An Essential Translator: Perceptions and Interpretations—Ibn ‘Arabi in the Islamic world today, in Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society Newsletter, vol. 18 (summer 2002), pp. 15-16, 20-24.

Reviews:
Messianic Hopes and Mystical Visions: The Nūrbakhshīya Between Medieval and Modern Islam, by Shahzad Bashir,  Columbia, University of South Carolina Press, 2003.  To appear in Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, vol. 16.2  (2006).

Sufism and Deconstruction: A comparative study of Derrida and Ibn ‘Arabi, by Ian Almond, London, Routledge, London, 2004.  To appear in International Journal of Middle East Studies, (2006).

Revelation, Intellectual Intuition and Reason in the Philosophy of Mulla Sadra, by Zailan Moris, London, Routledge Curzon, 2003.  In Journal of Islamic Studies, (2006).

Sufi Metaphysics and the Qur’ānic Prophets, by Ronald L. Nettler, Cambridge, Islamic Texts Society, 2003.  In Transcendent Philosophy: An International Journal for Comparative Philosophy and Mysticism, vol. 5 (2005), pp. 265-271.

Divine Sayings: The Mishkāt al-Anwār of Ibn ‘Arabī, translation and Arabic ed. by Stephen Hirtenstein and Martin Notcutt, Oxford, Anqa Publishing, 2005.  In Journal of the Muhyiddīn Ibn ‘Arabī Society, vol. XXXVII  (2005), pp. 130-134.

Ecstasy and Enlightenment: The Ismaili Devotional Literature of South Asia, by Ali S. Asani, London, I. B. Tauris, 2002.  In the Journal of Semitic Studies (2004), pp. 150-152.

Ibn ‘Arabi: Urwolke und Welt—Mystische Texte des Gröβten Meisters, translated by Alma Giese, Munich, C.H.Beck, 2002.   In Journal of the Muhyiddīn Ibn 'Arabī Society, vol. XXXIII (2003), pp. 99-103.

Islamic Mysticism Contested: Thirteen Centuries of Controversies and Polemics, ed. F.de Jong and B. Radtke.  Leiden, Brill, 1999.  In Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, vol. 13.2  (2002), pp. 237-239.

Manjhan, Madhumālatī: An Indian Sufi Romance, translated by Simon Weightman and Aditya Behl, with S.M. Pandey.  Oxford, Oxford World’s Classics, 2000.  In Journal of the Muhyiddīn Ibn 'Arabī Society, vol. XXXI (2002), pp. 107-111.

The Philosophy of Seyyed Hossein Nasr, ed. L.E. Hahn, R. E. Auxier, and L. W. Stone, Jr.  Chicago, Open Court, 2001.  In Transcendent Philosophy: An International Journal for Comparative Philosophy and Mysticism, vol. 3 (2002), pp.  196-201.

Ibn ‘Arabī: Contemplation of the Holy Mysteries and the Rising of the Divine Lights, translated by Cecilia Twinch and Pablo Beneito, Oxford, Anqa Publishing, 2001.  In Journal of the Muhyiddīn Ibn ‘Arabī Society, vol. XXXI (2002), pp. 103-107.

A Brief Introduction to Islamic Philosophy, by Oliver Leaman. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1999.  In Bulletin of the School of Oriental & African Studies, vol. 65.2 (2002), pp. 388-399.   

Islamic Mysticism Contested: Thirteen Centuries of Controversies & Polemics, ed. Frederic de Jong & Bernd Radtke.  Leiden, Brill, 1999.  In Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, vol. 13, no. 2  (2002), pp. 237-239.