Michael Anthony Sells (born May 8, 1949) is

John Henry Barrows John Henry Barrows (1847–1902) was an American clergyman of First Presbyterian Church and Chairman of the 1893 General Committee on the Congress of Religions (later to be known as the World's Parliament of Religions). He was the one who claim ...

Professor of Islamic History and Literature in the

Divinity School A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

and in the Department of Comparative Literature at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

. Michael Sells studies and teaches in the areas of Qur'anic studies, Sufism, Arabic and Islamic love poetry, mysticism (Greek, Islamic, Christian, and Jewish), and

religion and violence Religious violence covers phenomena in which religion is either the subject or the object of violent behavior. All the religions of the world contain narratives, symbols, and metaphors of violence and war. Religious violence is violence that ...

Work

He completed a new and expanded edition of his 1999 book ''Approaching the Qur'an: the Early Revelations'' which was the center of the case ''

Yacovelli v. Moeser The ''Yacovelli v. Moeser'' case was a result of a summer reading program for new students implemented by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2002 that was objected to by several groups and was referred to by the media as the UNC-Qur' ...

'' about the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which r ...

's summer program in 2002. Sells also published three volumes on Arabic poetry, ''Desert Tracings: Six Classic Arabian Odes'', ''Stations of Desire'', and ''The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature, Al-Andalus'', which he co-edited and to which he contributed. His books on mysticism include ''Early Islamic Mysticism'', translations and commentaries on influential mystical passages from the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing.: ...

hadith Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...

, Arabic poetry, and early Sufi writings, as well as ''Mystical Languages of Unsaying'', an examination of apophatic language, with special attention to

Plotinus Plotinus (; grc-gre, Πλωτῖνος, ''Plōtînos''; – 270 CE) was a philosopher in the Hellenistic philosophy, Hellenistic tradition, born and raised in Roman Egypt. Plotinus is regarded by modern scholarship as the founder of Neop ...

John Scotus Eriugena John Scotus Eriugena, also known as Johannes Scotus Erigena, John the Scot, or John the Irish-born ( – c. 877) was an Irish Neoplatonist philosopher, theologian and poet of the Early Middle Ages. Bertrand Russell dubbed him "the mo ...

ibn Arabi Ibn ʿArabī ( ar, ابن عربي, ; full name: , ; 1165–1240), nicknamed al-Qushayrī (, ) and Sulṭān al-ʿĀrifīn (, , ' Sultan of the Knowers'), was an Arab Andalusian Muslim scholar, mystic, poet, and philosopher, extremely influen ...

Meister Eckhart Eckhart von Hochheim ( – ), commonly known as Meister Eckhart, Master Eckhart

. His work on religion and violence includes ''The Bridge Betrayed: Religion and Genocide in Bosnia'', and ''The New Crusades: Constructing the Muslim Enemy'' which he co-edited and to which he contributed. He teaches courses on the topics of the Qur'an, Islamic love poetry, comparative mystical literature, Arabic Sufi poetry, and ibn Arabi.

Christoslavism

Michael Sells argues that religious mythology played a crucial role in the

Bosnian genocide The Bosnian genocide ( bs, bosanski genocid) refers to either the Srebrenica massacre or the wider crimes against humanity and Ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian War, ethnic cleansing campaign throughout areas controlled by the Army of Republika S ...

. He wrote about the religious ideology of Christoslavism: Sells argues that the Bosnian genocide: Sells argues that these acts were seen as

ethnoreligious An ethnoreligious group (or an ethno-religious group) is a grouping of people who are unified by a common religious and ethnic background. Furthermore, the term ethno-religious group, along with ethno-regional and ethno-linguistic groups, is a s ...

purification Purification is the process of rendering something pure, i.e. clean of foreign elements and/or pollution, and may refer to: Religion * Ritual purification, the religious activity to remove uncleanliness * Purification after death * Purification ...

Personal life

Sells is of

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also * * * Old Serbian (disambigua ...

descent.

Bibliography

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References

External links

University of Chicago Homepage

University of Chicago News Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sells, Michael 1949 births Historians of Islam Middle Eastern studies in the United States University of Chicago faculty Living people 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers Mysticism scholars American male non-fiction writers University of Chicago Divinity School faculty American religion academics