Theology Department
Loyola University

Dr. Marcia Hermansen is Director of the Islamic World Studies Program and Professor in the Theology Department at Loyola University Chicago where she teaches courses in Islamic Studies and the academic study of religion. She received her Ph. D. from the University of Chicago in Arabic and Islamic Studies. In the course of her research and language training she lived for extended periods in Egypt, Jordan, India, Iran, Turkey and Pakistan and she conducts research in Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Urdu as well as the major European languages.

Her book, The Conclusive Argument from God, a study and translation (from Arabic) of Shah Wali Allah of Delhi’s, Hujjat Allah al-Baligha was published in 1996. Dr. Hermansen has also contributed numerous academic articles in the fields of Islamic Thought, Sufism, Islam and Muslims in South Asia, Muslims in America, and Women in Islam.

Scott Alexander’s academic career has been dedicated to the study of Islam in the context of his broader training as an historian of religions. His teaching and research interests include medieval Muslim sectarianism, the mystical traditions of Muslim spirituality, Quranic studies, and the history and future of Muslim-Christian relations and interfaith dialogue. He is editor of Sisters: Women, Religion, and Leadership in Christianity and Islam

Associate Professor of Islam
Director, Catholic-Muslim Studies

Guest Speakers

Thomas Michel, S.J. Father Tom Michel, S.J., studied Arabic in Lebanon and Egypt and received a PhD in Arabic and Islamic Studies from the University of Chicago. His doctoral thesis focused on the thought of Sunni Islamic scholar Ibn Taymiyya. In 1981, he was appointed to the Asia Desk of the Vatican Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and in 1988 he became Head of the Office for Islam in the same Vatican department. Since 1994, he has served as Executive Secretary of the Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences in Bangkok, Thailand. Beginning in 1996, he served as Secretary for Interreligious Dialogue in Rome and Ecumenical Secretary for the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences. After spending 2008-9 at Woodstock as an International Visiting Fellow, Father Michel joined the Jesuit community in Ankara, Turkey -- the only Catholic religious community working in that city.
Fr. Michel has taught for many years in Indonesia, the Philippines, and around the United States, Europe, and Turkey. He is on the board of numerous institutions and organizations, including the Academic Council of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, the International Advisory Board of the Khalidi Library in Jerusalem, and the Advisory Board of the Center for Civilizational Dialogue at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.