FREDERICK MATHEWSON DENNY

 

Brief Curriculum Vitae (updated March 2008)

 

Current Professional Position:  Professor Emeritus of Islamic Studies and History of Religions, Department of Religious Studies, University of Colorado at Boulder, 292 UCB, Boulder, Colorado 80309.  (303)530-4066  FAX (303) 735-2080  E-MAIL:  <Frederick.Denny@Colorado.Edu>

 

Home address: 6397 Starling Court,  Longmont, Colorado 80503  (303) 530-4066.

 

Education: A.B. (Philosophy), College of William and Mary (1961); B.Div. (=  current M.Div.), Andover Newton Theological School (1965); Certificate in Advanced Arabic Studies, American University in Cairo (1970); M.A. and Ph.D. (History of Religions and Islamic Studies), University of Chicago Divinity School (1969, 1974).

 

Professional employment: Instructor in Religion and Philosophy, Colby-Sawyer College (N.H.), 1964-67; Lecturer in Religious Studies, Yale College, 1971-72; Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, University of Virginia, 1972-78; Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of Colorado-Boulder, 1978-88; Professor, 1988-.

           

Visiting positions: State Islamic Univ., Surabaya, Indonesia (1984-85); Univ. of Michigan-Ann Arbor (Nov. 1987); Colorado College (Jan. 1987, May 1988); Visiting Fellow at St. Paul's United College, Univ. of Waterloo, Ontario (Fall 1991); International Islamic University--Malaysia (Summer 1993).

 

Areas of teaching/research experience and interest:

Islamic Studies: Qur'an, Sufism, theology, ritual, community forms/processes, popular practices/regional forms (Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, N. America). -- Christianity: Church history, theology, Christian-Muslim relations, liturgy, hymnody, architecture. Judaism: Relations with Islam and Christianity, rites & customs. -- Religious Studies: theory & method, ritual theory, religion & literature, religion and human rights, religious names & naming processes, church/sect theory, women & religion, religion and ethnicity, religion and ecology.

 

Leadership/Professional Service (selected):  U. of Colo.: Chair of Religious Studies Dept. (1982-84, Fall 1987; 1999 - 2003); Council on Research and Creative Work (1985-88; chair 1987-88); Boulder Faculty Assembly Executive Committee (1994-98), Chair of BFA Professional Responsibilities Committee (1994-98), BFA Parliamentarian (2001-2003). Regional:  Pres. of Rocky Mtn./Grt. Plains Region of Amer. Acad. of Relig.(AAR)/Soc. Bibl. Lit. (1987-88). National: Chair of Study of Islam Section of AAR (1985-88); AAR Task Force on the Religion Major (1989-90); AAR standing Committee on Teaching and Learning (1990-97; chair 1993-97); Member AAR Board of Directors (1992-97; 2001-2007), AAR Executive Committee (1994-97, 2002-2004); AAR Secretary for the Rocky Mountains-Great Plains Region (2001-2004, 2004-2007). --  Board of Directors, Theta Alpha Kappa National Honor Society for Religious Studies and Theology (1999-2005). CU-Boulder TAK Alpha Beta Theta Chapter Moderator since 1994. -- I have served on external program review committees for religion/religious studies departments at The College of William and Mary, Kenyon College, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, University of Florida, The Colorado College, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, University of Oregon, Rutgers University, Lehigh University, University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University (for their joint doctoral program proposal); University of California-Santa Barbara, and Syracuse University. --  Editorial positions:  contributing editor, Journal of Ritual Studies (1986-1997), Book Reviews Editor (1993-97); Editorial Board, Teaching Theology and Religion (1998-2004).    Current: Editorial Boards of The Muslim World, Studies in Contemporary Islam, and  The Journal of Islamic Law and Culture.

 

 

Honors, awards, fellowships:  Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa, NEH Fellow (1976-77), Fulbright Fellow (1984-85; 1993), University of Colorado Faculty Fellowship (1984-85; 1991-92), U. of Colorado at Boulder Faculty Assembly Service Award (1990), Kathleen Connolly-Weinert Leader of the Year Award from Theta Alpha Kappa National Honor Society for Religious Studies and Theology (2006).

 

Professional travel for research/lecturing/consulting: Egypt (1969-70, 1976-78, 1979, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1998), Indonesia (1980, 1983, 1984-85, 1988, 2004), Malaysia (1980, 1985, 1993, 1998), Yemen (1983), Pakistan (1983; 1991), Bangladesh (1983, 1985), Israel-West Bank (1985), Turkey (1997), The Netherlands (1998), South Africa (2000), Canada (1991, 1997, 2000, 2004), Norway (2004) many places in the United States and continuing.

 

Memberships in professional societies (current only): American Academy of Religion, Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.

 

Publications:  

 

            Books: Lead editor for 2nd edition of Atlas of the World’s Religions (New York: Oxford

University Press, 2007);  An Introduction to Islam (Macmillan, 1985; 2nd ed. Prentice Hall, 1993; 3rd ed. Prentice Hall, 2005); Islam and the Muslim Community (Harper & Row, 1987; 2nd ed. 1993), xii + 137 pp.; Islamic Ritual Practices: A Slide Set and Teacher's Guide in collaboration with Abdulaziz A. Sachedina (ACLS and Yale Divinity School, 1983), 180 color slides + 115 pp. text; The Holy Book in Comparative Perspective , ed. with R. L. Taylor (University of South Carolina Press, 1985; pb ed. 1993), viii + 252 pp.;  Jews, Christians, Muslims: A Comparative Introduction to Monotheism, co-authored with John A. Corrigan, Carlos Eire, and Martin Jaffee (Prentice-Hall, 1998); Readings in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Prentice-Hall 1998; co-edited with Corrigan, Eire, and Jaffee); The Shaping of a North American Islamic Discourse: A Memorial to Fazlur Rahman, co-edited with Earle H. Waugh (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1998), Islam and Ecology: A Bestowed Trust, co-edited with Richard C. Foltz and Azizan Baharuddin (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003).

 

            Articles (selected from the past decade): "Islamic Theology in the New World: Some Issues and Prospects," Journal of the American Academy of Religion, LXII: 4 (Winter 1994), 1069-1084; "The Ummah in North America: Muslim 'Melting Pot' or 'Ethnic Mosaic'?," Christian-Muslim Encounters, ed. Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad and Wadi` Z. Haddad (University Press of Florida, 1995), 342-356; "Boundaries and Gateways in the Social, Cultural, and Religious Landscapes of Muslim-Christian Relations," in Muslim-Christian Dialogue: Promise and Problems, ed. Darrol Bryant and S.A. Ali (St. Paul, MN: Paragon, 1998), pp. 227-238; "To Serve Allah in a Foreign Land: Muslim Spirituality in the North American Diaspora," in Listening: Journal of Religion and Culture, vol. 33, no. 3 (Fall, 1998), pp.188-198;  “Jailhouse Religion: The Challenge of Corrections to the American Muslim Community,” co-authored with Olga Scarpetta, Studies in Contemporary Islam, vol. 1, no. 1(Spring, 1999), pp. 62-71; “On Common Ground: World Religions in America--A Review Essay of the Harvard Pluralism Project on CD-ROM,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion, vol. 67, no. 3 (September, 1999), pp. 649-659; “Community and Society in the Qur’ān,” Encyclopaedia of the Qur’ān, (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2001), vol. 1, pp. 367-386; "Islam and Peacebuilding: Continuities and Transitions," in Harold Coward and Gordon S. Smith, eds., Religion and Peacebuilding (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2004, pp. 129-146; "Muslim Ethical Trajectories in the Contemporary Period," in William Schweiker, ed., The Blackwell Companion to Religious Ethics (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2005), pp. 268-277.

 

Founder/general editor of University of South Carolina Press series "Studies in Comparative Religion" (ca. 50 titles published as of late 2007).

 

Recent and Current Research/Writing/Scholarly Service: Writing a book on mediating discourses in the dialogue(s) between religion and human rights, with particular emphasis on Islamic principles and Muslim discourses and cases. -- In summer 2004 I participated in a week-long conference on "Earth's Waters in Crisis: A Scientific, Spiritual, and Moral Challenge," sponsored by the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science at Star Island, Isles of Shoals, NH. I presented one of the plenary lectures, on "Water in Islamic Teaching and Practice."  I presented a revised and updated version of that paper under the title “Islamic Water Stewardship as a Bestowed Trust” at the International Ecological Conference—Green Environment 2008 at Kottayam and Mavelikara, in Kerala Province, India on February 3-9, 2008, sponsored by the Church of South India’s Madhya Kerala Diocese.