I am a scholar of comparative religion, focusing on early and classical Islam, Late Antiquity, and the comparative study of scriptural traditions, especially Bible and Qur’an. I am the author of numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries, as well as a scholarly monograph, The Golden Calf between Bible and Qur’an: Scripture, Polemic, and Exegesis from Late Antiquity to Islam (winner of the 2021 Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion from the American Academy of Religion in the Textual Studies category).
To learn more about my book and other aspects of my research, check out my interview with Shehnaz Haqqani for the New Books Network podcast, or the more wide-ranging conversation I had about methodology in the comparative study of scripture and Islamic origins with Ashher Masood for the Bottled Petrichor podcast.
I am currently a fellow of the ERC Synergy Project ‘The European Qur’an: Islamic Scripture in European Culture and Religion 1150-1850’ (EuQu), affiliated with the research team at the Università degli Studi di Napoli L’Orientale headed by Roberto Tottoli. My EuQu project, “Re-Orienting Geiger: Revisiting the Jewish Foundations of Western Qur’anic Studies,” seeks to reevaluate the contribution of Abraham Geiger (d. 1874) to the modern study of the Qur’an and our contemporary understanding of the relationships between Bible, Qur’an, midrash, and tafsir.
To learn more about my current research project, check out the recording of my talk for the Coproduced Religions project from November 2022 on YouTube: CORE zoom seminar with Michael Pregill, “The Past, Present, and Future of Qur’anic Studies: Jewish, Christian, Islamic Legacies”
I am also engaged in long-term research projects on the reception of biblical themes and narratives in medieval Islamic literature, particularly the portrayal of the relationships between the biblical prophets and Muhammad among sectarian communities; the connections between Jewish and Muslim scriptural interpretation in the early Islamic centuries; the changing representations of Jews and Judaism throughout Islamic history; and Late Antiquity as an analytical construct for the study of the transitional era between the classical and medieval worlds.
I am also an experienced academic editor, having launched two peer-reviewed academic journals and served as head editor of both, as well as serving in a number of other professional service capacities in the field of Religious Studies. I am currently involved in the management of the International Qur’anic Studies Association as co-chair of the Qur’an and Late Antiquity program unit, for which I have organized numerous panels. Additionally, I have organized over a dozen panels for other conferences, including the Society of Biblical Literature Annual and International Meetings, the Association of Jewish Studies Annual Conference, and the biennial meeting of the Association for Iranian Studies.