Theology Department Faculty
Natana J. DeLong-Bas
Professor of the Practice
Director, Theology and Interreligious Studies minor
Natana J. DeLong-Bas
Ph.D.
Contact
Stokes Hall 447N
Telephone: 617-552-3322
Email: delongba@bc.edu
Education
- B.A., Middlebury College
- M.A.A.S., Georgetown University
- Ph.D., Georgetown University
Courses
- Islam and Christianity in Dialogue
- Building and Sustaining a Habitable Planet
- Engaging Interreligious Leadership
- Women and Gender in Islam
- Contemporary Ethics in Christianity and Islam
- Islam and History in the Middle East
- Contemporary Islamic Thought and Practice
Office Hours
MW 10:00-10:45 and by appointment
Biography
Natana J. DeLong-Bas is the author of Islam: A Living Faith, Shariah: What Everyone Needs to Know, and Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad (translated into Arabic, Russian, and French, named 1 of the top 5 books for understanding Islam by the Wall Street Journal), among other books.
She is Editor of The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Reform, Islam, Revival & Reform: Redefining Tradition for the Twenty-First Century, Co-Editor of the Journal of Ecumenical Studies, and Editor-in-Chief of Oxford Bibliographies Online – Islamic Studies and The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Women, 2 vols.
Past President of the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies (ACSIS) and an expert on Islam and Christianity, the environment, comparative ethics, women and gender, Islamic law, Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Gulf, and terrorism and extremism, she serves as a consultant to the United Nations, the media, and many governments and corporations.
She is Professor of the Practice of Theology and Islamic Civilizations and Societies, and Director of the minor in Theology and Interreligious Studies at Boston College.
Selected Presentations
- “Water: Assuring Access To, Protecting, and Conserving the Source of Life as an Islamic Ethical Obligation,” Society for the Study of Muslim Ethics, Washington, DC, January 8-11, 2026.
- “Writing Memory as History and History as Memory: Engaging the Material Turn in Ottoman-Wahhabi Relations,” panel on “Between Memory and Heritage: Politics of Remembering, Reclaiming, and Contesting the Ottoman Empire,” at Beyond Crises: Resilience and (In)Stability, Memory Studies Association 9th Annual Conference, Prague, Czechia, July 14-18, 2025.
- “Spirit of Place, Spirit of Revelation: Thomas Merton’s Reading of Nature as a Place of Dialogue for Muslims and Christians,” Nineteenth General Meeting of the International Thomas Merton Society, Regis University, Denver, CO, June 19-22, 2025.
- “The Wind Beneath Their Wings: A Comparative Ethical and Theological Engagement of Birds in the Bible and the Qur’an,” International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa, July 7, 2023.
- “Water: The Source of Life – an intertextual scriptural reading as inspiration for interfaith cooperation in water conservation and management,” The Centre for Christian-Muslim Studies, St. Stephen’s House, Oxford, England, November 28, 2022.
- “Bridging the Orient and the West: Tracing Translations of the Qur’an into English through Arabia and the British Empire in India in the First Decades of the 20th Century,” international workshop on “Da’wa and Qur’an translation in the first decades of the 20th century,” Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany, funded by the European Research Council, June 21-22, 2022.
- “From Subjects and Objects to Citizens and Society Influencers: Saudi Arabian Women in Religion, History and Contemporary Society,” presented to School of Foreign Service for Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University, Feb. 1, 2022.
- "Intertextual Scriptural Reading as Inspiration for Interfaith Cooperation in Water Conservation and Management," conference on “Islam, Environmental Science and Conservation,” Michigan State University, October 15-16, 2020.
- "From ‘Sources and Origins’ to ‘Conversation Partners’: Reframing the Historical Construction of the Qur’an," Round-Table Conference on “The Qur’an in Its Milieu of Origin: Possibilities of the Historical Reconstruction of the Qur’anic Revelation,” Center for Islamic Theology and the Cluster of Excellence, University of Münster, Germany, November 8-10, 2019.
Social Media Presence
- “Sharia: What Does Everyone Need to Know,” conference on “The Islamic World Today: Issues and Perspectives,” Brigham Young University, October 18-29, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z8sN-Ygt6A
- “Islam for Catholics 101,” Woods School of Theology and Ministry, Boston College, March 5, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh_QiApASRQ.
- “Muslim Women and Islamic Law: Myths and Realities,” Woods School of Theology and Ministry, Boston College, October 15, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2ra9S8dZOg.
Selected Recent Articles
- “The Qur’an and the Bible,” Oxford Bibliographies in Islamic Studies. New York: Oxford University Press, May 27, 2025. Available at www.oxfordbibliographies.com
- “Bridging the Orient and the West: Tracing Translations of the Qur’an into English through Arabia and the British Empire in India in the First Decades of the 20th Century,” Journal of Qur’anic Studies 26.2 (2024): 97-128.
- “Islamic Resources for Water Conservation and Management,” in Recovering Environmental and Economic Traditions in the Islamic World, ed. Sami Al-Daghistani. Leiden: Brill, 2024, 117-147.
- “Modern Re-readings of the Classical Legal Literature on Women,” in The Oxford Handbook of Islam and Women, Editor-in-Chief Asma Afsaruddin. New York: Oxford University Press, December 2023, 200-220.
- “The Qur’an in Islamic Ritual and Practice,” in The Routledge Handbook of Islamic Ritual and Practice, ed. Oliver Leaman. New York: Routledge, June 2022, 13-37.
- “Wahhabism and Salafism in Global Perspective,” in Wahhabism in the World: Understanding Saudi Arabia’s Global Influence on Religion, ed. Peter Mandaville. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022, 35-52.
- “The Role of Women in Solidifying 18th Century Revival and Reform Initiatives into Ongoing Mass Movements,” in Islam, Revival and Reform: Redefining Tradition for the Twenty-First Century, ed, Natana J. DeLong-Bas. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2022, 3-29.
- “Islamic Law and Gender,” Oxford Bibliographies in Islamic Studies. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019. Available at www.oxfordbibliographies.com.
- “Islam, Nature and the Environment,” Oxford Bibliographies in Islamic Studies. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. Available at www.oxfordbibliographies.com.
Grants and Awards
- Teaching, Advising and Mentoring Grant for Interreligious Studies, Jesuit Pedagogy and the Learning Sciences, 2025-2026.
- Teaching and Mentoring Expense Grant for Interreligious Studies and pedagogy, 2025.
- Major Grant Award ($17,500) from Institute for Liberal Arts for a year-long interdisciplinary program on “Contemporary Iran: Realities and Prospects for the Future” from Institute for the Liberal Arts, 2023-2024.
- Major Grant from the Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation for environmental study in the Galapagos Islands, May 2019-May 2022.
- University Council on Teaching Grant for Student Well-Being, Spring 2020.
- Major Grant Award from Institute for the Liberal Arts for conference on “Islam in the Post-Obama Era," Boston College, April 2018.