New Summer Term Course: Shī'ī Islam

Andrew Newman '74, the Religion Department's Visiting Edinburgh Professor this Summer Term, will be teaching a new course this Summer Term, Rel. 28.05 (10A), Shī'ī Islam. The course will explore the history, doctrines, and practices of Shī'ī Islam, focusing on the Twelver Shī'ī  faith in particular. The Twelvers are the largest of today's three Shī'ī  faiths and comprise the majority of modern Iran's population but also majorities in a number of Arab countries, and substantial minorities in others such as in India and Pakistan. Translated materials will be offered to allow students direct access to key Shī'ī  writings composed over the centuries. The issue of sectarianism conflict in Sunnī-Shī'ī history will be one of the course's subthemes. Open to all classes. Dist: TMV; WCult: NW.

Andrew J. Newman, the Personal Chair of Islamic Studies and Persian at the University of Edinburgh, holds a B.A. in History, summa cum laude, from Dartmouth, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from UCLA. He is also founder and moderator of Shii News and Resources and Associate Scholar at the Monde iranien et indien research center of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), and the author of a number of books on Shī'ī Islam.

The Summer Term Course Change Period ends on May 30, but will begin again on June 21, the first day of Summer Term classes.