Michael Anthony Sells (born May 8, 1949) is
John Henry Barrows Professor of Islamic History and Literature in the
Divinity School and in the Department of Comparative Literature at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
.
Michael Sells studies and teaches in the areas of
Qur'anic studies,
Sufism
Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism.
Practitioners of Sufism are r ...
, Arabic and Islamic love poetry,
mysticism
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute (philosophy), Absolute, but may refer to any kind of Religious ecstasy, ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or Spirituality, spiritual meani ...
(Greek, Islamic, Christian, and Jewish), and
religion and violence.
Work
He completed a new and expanded edition of his 1999 book ''Approaching the Qur'an: the Early Revelations'' which was at the center of the case ''
Yacovelli v. Moeser'' about the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...
'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, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
,
hadith
Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...
, Arabic poetry, and early Sufi writings, as well as ''Mystical Languages of Unsaying'', an examination of
apophatic language, with special attention to
Plotinus,
John Scotus Eriugena,
ibn Arabi,
Meister Eckhart, and
Marguerite Porete. 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.
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]
Christoslavism
Michael Sells argues that religious mythology played a crucial role in the Bosnian genocide
The Bosnian genocide () took place during the Bosnian War of 1992–1995 and included both the Srebrenica massacre and the wider crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian War, ethnic cleansing campaign perpetrated throughout ar ...
.
Personal life
Sells is of Serbian descent.
Bibliography
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References
External links
University of Chicago Homepage
University of Chicago News Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sells, Michael
1949 births
American 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
American people of Serbian descent
American Islamic studies scholars