Exploring Islam

I am a born-and-bred Unitarian Universalist and an active member of the First Parish Unitarian Universalist in Arlington, MA, but I have been learning and thinking about Islam since 2006.

Even twenty years ago I felt uncomfortable that I knew so little about Islam. Like most Americans, I learned almost nothing about the world’s second largest religion during my schooling – and I have two degrees in the study of religion. After 9/11 and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan it seemed even more important that Americans learn something about Islam. Finally I decided that if I kept saying that Americans should learn more about Islam, that applied to me. So I picked up a copy of Michael Sells’ Approaching the Qur’an and started reading.

At first my plan was to learn just for my own education. But I am a teacher by instinct and training, so pretty soon I started to write about what I was learning in a private blog that I was keeping at the time. One thing led to another, and after a few years I started to offer talks and mini-courses on the Qur’an and the history of Islam.

I am neither an expert on Islam nor a potential convert. I am an American layperson, grounded in my own faith, who is trying to build bridges of understanding.

I have the prejudices of a Unitarian Universalist and an academic. Unitarian Universalists affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and we tend to try to see what is good in all people and cultures. Academics approach the study of religion not in a confessional mode (not “Is this true?”), but instead see religion as a complex human and cultural phenomenon. Religious stories and symbols, actions and beliefs, give meaning, shape, and texture to people’s lives. As a historian, I find it particularly helpful to look at how we got to where we are.

I currently have two talks that I am interested in sharing with groups in the Arlington area – one a very brief history of Islam and the other on the Qur’an’s teachings about gender, women, and sexuality. I have also taught short courses on the Qur’an, on gender in the Qur’an, and the Qur’an’s teachings about relations with other religions, war, and peace. For religious communities, I could offer a sermon/service on what I, personally, have learned as a Unitarian Universalist looking at Islam. If you would like to discuss these or related possibilities, please contact me.

This website contains an extensive annotated bibliography of books that I personally have found valuable, texts from two of my talks, and some other reflections in response to questions people have repeatedly asked me. Please remember that everything I’ve written here are my current beliefs about what is true and important and worth knowing, and that others may have different legitimate beliefs about what is true and important and worth knowing.

I will add additional information to this section of the website when I have read a new book that seems worth sharing or have other things to say. Please contact me if you would like to receive emails when this section is updated and/or when I am offering talks, film viewings, or other programs related to Islam.

Texts of talks I’ve given …

A Very Brief History of Islam

What Does the Qur’an Say About Women, Gender, and Sexuality?

Annotated Bibliography

The Basics

Personal Viewpoints …

History …