Alexander Treiger
Professor; Undergraduate Advisor for Religious Studies
Email: atreiger@dal.ca
Mailing Address:
- Christian literature in Arabic
- Classical sufism
- Medieval Arabic philosophy
Education
- BA, MA (Jerusalem)
- PhD (Yale)
Biography
I was raised in Saint Petersburg, Russia and began my university career in Jerusalem. There I completed a BA in Arabic and Islamic Studies and an MA in Comparative Religion, with a focus on Greek Patristics. My Master’s thesis offered an analysis of the medieval translation of Dionysius the Areopagite’s Mystical Theology into Arabic. I received my PhD in Arabic and Islamic Studies from Yale University. In my dissertation I explored the concept of “divine disclosure” (human knowledge about God) in the writings of the influential Muslim theologian Abu Hamid al-Ghazali. I have been teaching at ϳԹsince 2008.
Research interests
My current research involves work on Christian literature in Arabic, classical Sufism, medieval Arabic philosophy, Graeco-Arabic Studies, and Christian asceticism and mysticism in the Syriac churches. I am interested in the history of transmission of philosophical, theological, ascetic, and mystical ideas from Late Antiquity to early Islam. I have published and several co-edited volumes, including Ի. I am the editor of the book series “” (Brill). My publications can be consulted .
Teaches
RELS 1002 Judaism, Christianity and Islam: The Abrahamic Religions; RELS 2001 Judaism; RELS 2003 Islam; RELS 2281 Christian Beginnings: Orthodox and Oriental Churches; RELS 3000 Topics in Religious Studies; RELS 3009 Christianity in the Lands of Islam; RELS 3012 Mystics of the Middle East; RELS 4010 Islamic Philosophy: al-Ghazali; RELS 4018 Christian Theology in Islamic Lands: John of Damascus; RELS 4401 Philosophy of the Greek Church Fathers.