Richard Foltz is a Canadian historian who specializes in the history of Iranian civilization — sometimes referred to as " Greater Iran". He has also been active in the areas of

environmental ethics In environmental philosophy, environmental ethics is an established field of practical philosophy "which reconstructs the essential types of argumentation that can be made for protecting natural entities and the sustainable use of natural resourc ...

and

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

Biography

Foltz is a full professor in the Department of Religions and Cultures at

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, and an affiliate professor at the Centre d'études du religieux contemporain,

Université de Sherbrooke The Université de Sherbrooke (UdeS; Quebec English, English: ''University of Sherbrooke'') is a French-language Public university, public research university in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, with a second campus in Longueuil, a suburb on the Mont ...

. He holds a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern History from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and degrees in Persian literature and

applied linguistics Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field which identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems. Some of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are education, psychology, Communication stu ...

from the University of Utah. He has taught at Kuwait University,

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, and the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

. Prior to entering academia he worked for several years in Europe as a musician, film critic, and travel writer. The author of twelve books and over one hundred scholarly articles, his work has appeared in more than a dozen languages.

Scholarly contributions

Foltz has emphasized the role of Iranians in the spread of culture in world history, particularly in the domain of religions. In contrast to widespread notions associating the

Silk Road The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...

with

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, he sees the premodern trans-Asian trade networks as having been driven by the activities of traders who were mostly of Iranian background, principally Sogdians but also Parthians and

Persians Persians ( ), or the Persian people (), are an Iranian ethnic group from West Asia that came from an earlier group called the Proto-Iranians, which likely split from the Indo-Iranians in 1800 BCE from either Afghanistan or Central Asia. They ...

. Foltz has moreover argued that, contrary to its mostly negative portrayals in the West today, Iranian civilization continues to occupy a foundational role in the identity of many Asian peoples, analogous to the importance of Classical civilization for the West: "Most of the cultures of Asia identify with Iran on some level, much as Westerners do with Greece and Rome." In addition to religions commonly associated with Iran such as

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religions, Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zoroaster, Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, ...

, Manichaeism,

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

and the

Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...

, Foltz's work highlights the influence of Iranian ideas on

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

and

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

. His focus encompasses Iranian civilization in the broadest sense, ranging from the Ossetes and the

Kurds Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

in the West to the Tajiks in the East. His book ''A History of the Tajiks: Iranians of the East'' is the first monograph on the subject to be written in any Western language, as is his ''The Ossetes: Modern-Day Scythians of the Caucasus''. Foltz's approach is syncretic, bringing together, in the words of Omid Safi, "many different bodies of scholarship which have rarely been placed side by side". Commenting on the broad sweep of Foltz's attention to Iranian civilization, a reviewer writes in ''The Muslim World'' that "No scholar, save perhaps such giants as Ehsan Yarshater and Richard Frye, can claim a depth of knowledge of traditions as diverse and covering such a wide historical span". Apart from his work on Iranian history and civilization, Foltz has played a formative role in the emergence of a new subfield of

religious studies Religious studies, also known as religiology or the study of religion, is the study of religion from a historical or scientific perspective. There is no consensus on what qualifies as ''religion'' and definition of religion, its definition is h ...

known as religion and ecology, having edited three seminal works in this area, including two collections devoted to Islam. While sympathetic to attempts by Hossein Nasr, Fazlun Khalid and others to derive an environmental ethic from Islamic principles, Foltz has questioned the environmental credentials of contemporary Muslim societies, citing fatalism and strongly pro- natalist attitudes as obstacles to an environmental ethic. He has also challenged claims by Zoroastrians such as Farhang Mehr that Zoroastrianism is "the world's original environmentalist religion," noting that its cosmic dualism is at odds with contemporary ecological understanding which sees all species as having a vital role to play in ecosystems. Foltz has been deeply critical of global capitalism, seconding scholars such as David Loy and Harvey Cox who argue that the dominant faith system in the world today should properly be referred to as the "Religion of the Market". Foltz has also published ground-breaking work in the related field of religion and

. He is the author of the first scholarly book on Muslim attitudes towards animals, in which he re-assesses traditional Muslim views on such topics as

vegetarianism Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

and the cleanliness of dogs. He has also written on animals in Zoroastrianism."Zoroastrian Attitudes towards Animals," ''Society and Animals'' 18/4, 2010, pp. 367-78

Books

;Translator * ''Conversations with Emperor Jahangir'', translated from the Persian by Richard Foltz, Costa Mesa: Mazda Publishers, 1998. ;Author * ''Mughal India and Central Asia'', Karachi:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 1998. * ''Spirituality in the Land of the Noble: How Iran Shaped the World's Religions'', Oxford:

Oneworld Oneworld (Computer reservations system, CRS: *O, stylised as oneworld) is a global airline alliance consisting of 14 member airlines. It was founded on 1 February 1999. The alliance's stated objective is to be the first choice airline alliance f ...

, 2004. * ''Animals in Islamic Tradition and Muslim Cultures'', Oxford:

, 2006. * ''Religions of the Silk Road: Premodern Patterns of Globalization'', revised 2nd edition, New York:

Palgrave Macmillan Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains offi ...

, 2010. * ''Religions of Iran: From Prehistory to the Present'', London:

, 2013. * ''Iran in World History'', New York:

, 2016. * ''The Ossetes: Modern-Day Scythians of the Caucasus'', London:

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...

, 2021. * ''A History of the Tajiks: Iranians of the East'', revised 2nd edition, London:

, 2023. ;Editor * Editor, ''Worldviews, Religion, and the Environment: A Global Anthology'', Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Thomson, 2003. * Lead editor (with Frederick M. Denny and Azizan Baharuddin), ''Islam and Ecology: A Bestowed Trust'', Cambridge, MA:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

, 2003. * Editor, ''Environmentalism in the Muslim World'', New York: Nova Science, 2005.

References

External links

Concordia University faculty bio

Interview with Richard Foltz on the history of Tajiks, '' Central Asian Analytical Network''
15 May 2019

Semnani lecture in memory of Richard N. Frye at UC Irvine

"Prof. Richard Foltz: The Importance of Love Is at the Center of Iranian Spirituality" ''Fars News''
, 12 April 2014
"Religions of the Silk Road" Asia Society interview 2001
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foltz, Richard 1961 births Living people Academic staff of Concordia University American emigrants to Canada Canadian Iranologists Canadian historians of religion Canadian orientalists Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Historians of Iran University of Utah alumni Zoroastrian studies scholars