Reuven Firestone

In the Light of a Blessed Tree

World Religions

“It is unusual for an author on religion to capture both the 'body' and the 'spirit' of a faith tradition, to provide a rational, critical articulation of a religion's ideas and practices along with an accessible entry into the deep and complex corridor of a religion's inner spaces. Professor Gianotti has managed to accomplish exactly this in his very special book on Islam. This is both a personal meditation based upon his own profound experience as a Muslim, and an analytical and unapologetic articulation of Islam as subject of critical analysis. Through personal anecdotes as practitioner and professor, Gianotti reveals a special sensitivity to the difficulty of understanding Islam in this time of uncertainty. I will use this book in my own teaching.”

Oral-Scribal Dimensions of Scripture, Piety, and Practice

World Religions

“'Bible' and 'Scripture' convey the sense of a written work, but Arabic 'Qur'an' and Hebrew 'Miqra' retain the original, oral sense of a message recited. This collection offers a ground-breaking remedy to the writing-centric bias on scriptural studies. Thirteen remarkable essays by some of the greatest scholars of the monotheist traditions interrogate past assumptions as well as the materials in question to present a nuanced and remarkably detailed study of the oral essence of sacred texts.”

The Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at the University of Southern California

History & Biography

“I know Father Dr. Professor James L. Heft, SM, as Jim, and he knows me as Reuven. I have had the enormous pleasure of learning from him, co-teaching with him, sharing podia with him, and sitting alongside him in classrooms, boardrooms, and lecture halls. As I look back at my own spiritual and academic career as a practicing Jew, a rabbi, and an academic, I don’t think I ever had more stimulating growth experiences than I was afforded as Jim’s colleague and fellow traveler in the quest for combining academic and spiritual excellence through the IACS. Jim’s energy, kindness, honesty, and humility are matched only by his intellectual integrity and willingness to honestly consider virtually any question from virtually any angle.”