Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Middle East and Islamic Studies and Chair of the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies, Emory University

Vincent J. Cornell is Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Middle East and Islamic Studies and Chair of the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. From 2000-2006, he was Professor of History and Director of the King Fahd Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies at the University of Arkansas. From 1991-2000, he taught at Duke University. His published works include over 40 articles, three books, and one multi-volume book set. The best known of his works are The Way of Abu Madyan (Cambridge: The Islamic Texts Society, 1996), Realm of the Saint: Power and Authority in Moroccan Sufism (Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1998), and the five-volume book set Voices of Islam (Westport, Connecticut and London: Praeger, 2007). This comprehensive introduction to Islamic religion, thought, life, and civilization includes chapters by 50 Muslim authors, including many of the premier scholars of Islamic Studies. Dr. Cornell’s interests cover the entire spectrum of Islamic thought from the doctrinal and social history of Sufism to theology and political philosophy. He is currently preparing The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Islamic Spirituality with Bruce Lawrence of Duke University. He is also working on a major study of Islam and Democracy. Since 2002 he has been a key participant in the annual Building Bridges seminars of Christian and Muslim scholars conducted by The Right Honorable Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury.