Description:
Somewhere Between Islam and Judaism provides a set of critical reflections on what it means to study these two religious traditions within the larger context of the academic study of religion.
Brief description: Aaron W. Hughes is the Philip S. Bernstein Professor in the Department of Religion and Classics at the University of Rochester.
Review Quotes:
Pre-Publication Reviews
Aaron W. Hughes emerges as a critic and corrector, alerting scholars of Islam and Judaism to how these two religions should be critically, philologically and historically seen alongside each other...being critical and analytical, Hughes suggests, leads us to be inclusive of other peoples and ideas. Signifying that nothing is "marginal" and that there is no "the other", this monograph dismantles the "us" versus "them" that structures the field.
Majid Daneshgar, author of Studying the Qur'an in the Muslim Academy
Theoretically and methodologically provoking, this book invites us to reflect critically on the lines that separate and connect Islamic Studies, Jewish Studies, and Religious Studies. Hughes' critique is directed to both the researchers and institutions: given the ideological and political currents that have fraught these fields from the very beginning, where do we locate ourselves? Does our work contribute to problematizing these currents, cementing them, or dismantling them? Conceived as a compilation of delivered lectures and essays, the book prompts us to question everything we write - a privileged position that we must not take lightly as we endeavour to expand, revitalize, and in the current climate even defend, the role of research in Humanities and Social Sciences.
Professor Amila Buturovic, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, York University, Canada