Francis Edward Peters, SJ (June 23, 1927 – April 30, 2020), was an American academic. He served as professor emeritus of history, religion and Middle Eastern and Islamic studies at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

(NYU).

Early life and education

Peters was born in New York City and graduated from Regis High School in Manhattan in 1945. He entered the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

that summer and spent four years at their novitiate at St. Andrew on Hudson in Hyde Park, N.Y. He then studied at St. Louis University for three years, earning his B.A. in 1950 and his M.A. in Latin and Greek in 1952, as well as a licentiate in philosophy awarded by a Pontifical Institute in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Career

He taught for two years from 1952 to 1954 at

Canisius High School Canisius High School is a Catholic, private college-preparatory school for young men run by the USA Northeast Province of the Society of Jesus in Buffalo, New York, United States, just north of the Delaware Avenue Historic District. Founded in ...

in Buffalo, N.Y., and was released from his Jesuit vows in 1954. He earned a degree in Russian language studies from

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

in 1956 and completed his Ph.D. in

Islamic Studies Islamic studies is the academic study of Islam, which is analogous to related fields such as Jewish studies and Quranic studies. Islamic studies seeks to understand the past and the potential future of the Islamic world. In this multidiscipli ...

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1961. He taught at NYU from 1961 to 2008. Trained in both Islamic studies and in classical Greek and Roman studies, he considered himself a scholar of religion, particularly the comparative study of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. At NYU he served as chairperson of both the Classics and the Middle Eastern Studies departments. He was a visiting professor at a number of other institutions, including several in the Middle East as well as the General Theological Seminary in New York City. He participated in curating exhibitions at the

College of the Holy Cross The College of the Holy Cross is a private Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by educators Benedict Joseph Fenwick and Thomas F. Mulledy in 1843 under the auspices of the Society of Jesus. ...

The British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

, and the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

Death

He died on April 30, 2020, in hospice in Schenectady, N.Y. .

Selected works

;Author * ''Greek Philosophical Terms: A Historical Lexicon'', New York University Press (1967) * ''Aristotle and the Arabs: The Aristotelian Tradition in Islam'', New York University Press (1968) * ''Aristoteles Arabus. The Oriental Translations and Commentaries of the Aristotelian Corpus'', E. J. Brill, Leiden (1968) * ''Harvest of Hellenism: A History of the Near East from Alexander the Great to the Triumph of Christianity'', Simon and Schuster, New York, (1971) * ''Allah's Commonwealth: A History of Islam in the Near East, 600–1100 A.D.'', Simon and Schuster, New York, (1973) * ''Jerusalem: Holy City/Holy Places'', New York University, Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies, New York (1983) * ''Jerusalem: The Holy City in the Eyes of Chroniclers, Visitors, Pilgrims, and Prophets from the Days of Abraham to the Beginnings of Modern Times'',

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...

, (1985) * ''Distant Shrine: The Islamic Centuries in Jerusalem'', AMS Press, New York, (1993) * ''Hajj: The Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca and the Holy Places'', Princeton University Press, (1994) * ''Jerusalem and Mecca: The Typology of the Holy City in the Near East'', New York University Press, (1986) * ''Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: The Classical Texts and Their Interpretation'', Princeton University Press **''Volume I: From Covenant to Community'', (1990) **''Volume II: The Word and the Law and the People of God'', (1990) **''Volume III: The Works of the Spirit'', (1990) *"The Quest of the Historical Muhammad", in ''International Journal of Middle East Studies'', Vol. 23, No. 3. (August 1991), pp. 291–315 * ''Muhammad and the Origins of Islam'', State University of New York Press, (1994) * ''Mecca: A Literary History of the Muslim Holy Land'', Princeton University Press, (1994) * ''The Monotheists: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Conflict and Competition'', Princeton University Press **Volume I: The Peoples of God, (1994) **Volume II: The Words and Will of God, (1994) * ''Judaism, Christianity and Islam: the Monotheists'', Recorded Books, Prince Frederick, MD, (2003) * ''Islam, A Guide for Jews and Christians'', (2003) * ''Jerusalem: The Contested City'', Recorded Books, Prince Frederick, MD, (2003) * ''Children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, Islam'', with a foreword by

John L. Esposito John Louis Esposito (born May 19, 1940) is an American academic, professor of Middle Eastern and religious studies, and scholar of Islamic studies, who serves as Professor of Religion, International Affairs, and Islamic Studies at Georgetown U ...

, Princeton University Press, (2004) * ''The Voice, the Word, The Books. The Sacred Scriptures of the Jews, Christians and Muslims'', Princeton University Press, (2007) * ''Jesus and Muhammad. Parallel Tracks, Parallel Lives'', Oxford University Press, New York, (2010) ;Autobiography * ''Ours, The Making and Unmaking of a Jesuit'', Penguin Books, New York, N.Y., (1982) ;Editor * ''Arabs and Arabia on the Eve of Islam'', Aldershot, Brookfield, Vt., (1999) * ''Reader on Classical Islam'', Princeton University Press, (1994)

References

External links

Website

F. E. Peter's entry

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...