RECENT FACULTY PUBLICATIONS

Aisha M. Beliso-De Jesús, Associate Professor of African American Religions ELECTRIC SANTERÍA: RACIAL AND SEXUAL ASSEMBLAGES OF TRANSNATIONAL RELIGION Drawing on eight years of ethnographic research in Havana and Matanzas, Cuba, and in New York City, Miami, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay area, Beliso-De Jesús traces the phenomenon of co-presence in the lives of Santería practitioners, mapping its emergence in transnational places and historical moments and its ritual negotiation of race, imperialism, gender, sexuality, and religious travel.

Harvey Cox, Hollis Professor of Divinity Emeritus A HARVEY COX READER Throughout his career of over 50 years, Harvey Cox has shown a knack for identifying key trends as well as new variations on abiding themes, especially the message of Jesus and the meaning of faith in an ever-evolving culture. From his reflections on his Baptist roots to an inspiring essay, “Why I Am Still a Christian,” this volume opens a fascinating window on the religious questions of our time.

Ousmane Oumar Kane, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Professor of Contemporary Islamic Religion and Society, Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences BEYOND TIMBUKTU: AN INTELLECTUAL HISTORY OF MUSLIM WEST AFRICA Highlighting the significant breadth and versatility of the Muslim intellectual tradition in sub-Saharan Africa, Ousmane Kane corrects lingering misconceptions in both the West and the Middle East that Africa’s Muslim heritage represents a minor thread in Islam’s larger tapestry. West African Muslims have never been isolated. To the contrary, their connection with Muslims worldwide is robust and longstanding. Amy Hollywood, Elizabeth H. Monrad Professor of Christian Studies ACUTE MELANCHOLIA AND OTHER ESSAYS: MYSTICISM, HISTORY, AND THE STUDY OF RELIGION Acute Melancholia and Other Essays deploys spirited and progressive approaches to the study of Christian mysticism and the philosophy of religion. Ideal for novices and experienced scholars alike, the volume makes a forceful case for thinking about religion as both belief and practice, in which traditions marked by change are passed down through generations, laying the groundwork for their own critique.

Mark D. Jordan, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Christian Thought TEACHING BODIES: MORAL FORMATION IN THE SUMMA OF THOMAS AQUINAS In Teaching Bodies, Mark D. Jordan offers an original reading of the Summa of Theology of Thomas Aquinas. Reading backward, Jordan interprets the main parts of the Summa, starting from the conclusion, to reveal how Thomas teaches morals by directing attention to the way God teaches morals, namely, through embodied scenes: the incarnation, the gospels, and the sacraments.

Jon D. Levenson, Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies THE LOVE OF GOD: DIVINE GIFT, HUMAN GRATITUDE, AND MUTUAL FAITHFULNESS IN JUDAISM The love of God is perhaps the most essential element in Judaism—but also one of the most confounding. In biblical and rabbinic literature, the obligation to love God appears as a formal commandment. Yet most people today think of love as a feeling. How can an emotion be commanded? How could one ever fulfill such a requirement? The Love of God places these scholarly and existential questions in a new light.

Matthew L. Potts, Assistant Professor of Ministry Studies CORMAC MCCARTHY AND THE SIGNS OF SACRAMENT: LITERATURE, THEOLOGY, AND THE MORAL OF STORIES Although scholars have widely acknowledged the prevalence of religious reference in the work of Cormac McCarthy, this is the first book on the most pervasive religious trope in all his works: the image of sacrament. Informed by postmodern theories of narrative and Christian theologies of sacrament, Matthew Potts reads the major novels of Cormac McCarthy in a new and insightful way, arguing that their dark moral significance coheres with the Christian theological tradition in difficult, demanding ways.

Ahmed Ragab, Richard T. Watson Associate Professor of Science and Religion THE MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC HOSPITAL: MEDICINE, RELIGION, AND CHARITY The first monograph on the history of Islamic hospitals, this volume focuses on the under-examined Egyptian and Levantine institutions of the twelfth to fourteenth centuries. By the twelfth century, hospitals serving the sick and the poor could be found in nearly every Islamic city. Ahmed Ragab traces the varying origins and development of these institutions, locating them in their urban environments and linking them to charity networks and patrons’ political projects.

Mayra Rivera, Professor of Religion and Latina/o Studies POETICS OF THE FLESH In Poetics of the Flesh, Mayra Rivera offers poetic reflections on how we understand our carnal relationship to the world, at once spiritual, organic, and social. She connects conversations about corporeality in theology, political theory, and continental philosophy to show the relationship between the ways ancient Christian thinkers and modern Western philosophers conceive of the “body” and “flesh.” Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Krister Stendahl Professor of Divinity 1 PETER: READING AGAINST THE GRAIN 1 Peter is a religious document written a long time ago and in a culture and world that is quite different from our own. However, as a biblical book it is a part of Christianity’s sacred scriptures. This guide to the letter keeps both of these areas, the cultural-social and the ethical-religious, in mind. It offers help for understanding the letter as both a document of the first century and as sacred scripture that speaks about the religious forces that have shaped Christianity and Western culture. In short, this guide seeks to enable readers to read “against the grain.”

Charles M. Stang, Professor of Early Christian Thought OUR DIVINE DOUBLE What if you were to discover that you were not entirely you, but rather one half of a whole, that you had, in other words, a divine double? In the second and third centuries CE, this idea gripped the religious imagination of the Eastern Mediterranean. Our Divine Double traces the rise of this ancient idea that each person has a divine counterpart, twin, or alter ego, and the eventual eclipse of this idea with the rise of Christian conciliar orthodoxy.