Education

Ph.D., Near Eastern Studies (Islamic Studies), University of Michigan, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Ann Arbor, 2002-2008.

Attained candidacy in 2003 with examinations in Hanbalism, Islamic Theology, Islamic Law, Islamic Intellectual History, and Classical Arabic Texts.  Defended April 2, 2008, dissertation entitled Tajalli wa Ru’ya: A Study of Anthropomorphic Theophany and Visio Dei in the Hebrew Bible, the Qur’ān  and Early Sunnī Islam.

M.A., Near Eastern Studies (Islamic Studies), University of Michigan, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Ann Arbor, 1999-2002

B.A., cum laude, major in Religious Studies,Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA, 1990-1994

Fellowships, Scholarships, Grants

• Rackham One Term Dissertation Fellowship, The University of Michigan, Rackham School of Graduate Studies, 2007
• Rackham Merit Fellowship, The University of Michigan, Rackham School of Graduate Studies, 1999-2001, Summer 2002, Winter 2003, Winter 2004, Fall 2005
• Rackham International Conference Travel Grant, The University of Michigan, Rackham School of Graduate Studies, 2002
• King•Chávez•Parks Doctoral Fellowship, The University of Michigan, Rackham School of Graduate Studies, 2001
• Rackham Conference Travel Grant, The University of Michigan, Rackham School of Graduate Studies, 2001
• Summer Language Institute Fellowship, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, The University of Michigan, Summer 2001
• Summer Arabic Program Partial Fellowship, The University of Chicago, Summer 1999

Awards and Distinctions

• Great Books of Islam Prize, Center For Middle East and Near Eastern Studies, University of Michigan, 2003
• Third Place, 11^th Annual Students of Color of Rackham Conference Writing Competition, University of Michigan, 2001
•  Great Books of Islam Prize, Center For Middle East and Near Eastern Studies, University of Michigan, 2001
• Dean’s List, Morehouse College, Fall 1998, Winter 1999

Publications, Presentations, Posts

“ ‘Whosoever says that the Prophet is black is a Disbeliever’: The Diversification of the Islamic Empire and the Developing Portrayal of Muhammad,” Lecture, Michigan State University, February 7, 2011

“ ‘Anyone who says that the Prophet is black should be killed’: The De-Arabization of Islam and the Transfiguration of Muhammad in Islamic Tradition,” submitted for publication

“God Among the Gods: Divine Plurality in the Qur’an in the Light of Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Mythic Tradition,” Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible Exhibition Series, Milwaukee Public Museum, April 15, 2010

 “Sapphiric God: Speculation on the Body Divine in Jewish Esoteric Tradition,” Harvard Theological Review, forthcoming

“A Body Unlike Bodies: Transcendent Anthropomorphism in Ancient Semitic Tradition and Early Islam,”

Journal of the American Oriental Society, 129.1 (2009): 19-44

“’A Body Unlike Bodies’: Transcendent Anthropomorphism and the Writing of Islamic Theological History,” Michigan State University, November 13, 2009

“A Body Unlike Bodies: Transcendent Anthropomorphism, Divine Embodiment, and Early Sunnism,”   5^th Annual Duke-UNC Graduate Islamic Studies Conference, April 5, 2008

“Black Muslim Theology and the Classical Islamic Tradition: Possibilities of a Rapprochement” American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, 25:4 (2008): 61-89

“Aspects of the Creed of Ahmad b. Hanbal: A Study in Anthropomorphism in Early Islamic Discourse,” International Journal of Middle East Studies, 34 (2002): 441-463

Panel Chair, First World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Mainz, Germany, September 11, 2002

“Theophany and Visio Dei in Early Islam,” First World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Mainz, Germany, September 11, 2002

“Ru’yat Allah: Muhammad’s Vision of God and its Place in Early Islamic Doctrine,” 16^th Annual Middle East History and Theory Conference, University of Chicago, May 12, 2001

“Aspects of the Creed of Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal: A study of Anthropomorphism in Early Islamic Discourse,” 11^th Annual Students of Color of Rackham Conference,University of Michigan, February 17, 2001

Training

Rackham-Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT) Seminar on Preparing Future Faculty (PFF), May 2005

Teaching Experience

• Instructor, Exploring Religion, Michigan State University, Department of Religious Studies, Fall 2010
• Instructor, Islam, Michigan State University, Department of Religious Studies, Fall–Spring, 2009
• Instructor, Contemporary Issues in Islam: Between Tradition and Modernity, University of Toledo, Department of Philosophy, Spring 2009 
• Instructor, Introduction to Islam, University of Toledo, Department of Philosophy, Fall 2008
• Graduate Student Instructor, Introduction to Arab Culture, University of Michigan, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Winter 2008
• Graduate Student Instructor, Introduction to World Religions, University of Michigan, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Fall 2006
• Graduate Student Instructor, Introduction to Arab Culture, University of Michigan, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Winter 2006
• Instructor, The Other God: Alternative Conceptions of the Divine in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Tradition, University of Michigan, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Spring 2005
• Instructor, The Other God: Alternative Conceptions of the Divine in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Tradition, University of Michigan, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Spring 2004
• Graduate Student Instructor, Introduction to World Religions, University of Michigan, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Fall 2003
• Instructor, Orthodoxy and Heresy: Locating the Boundaries of Theological Tolerance in Islam, University of Michigan, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Spring 2003
• Graduate Student Instructor, African American Religion: Between Christianity and Islam, University of Michigan, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Winter-Fall 2002

Positions Held

• Assistant to the Editor, The International Journal of Middle East Studies, Ann Arbor Michigan, June 2002-June 2004

• Editor, Department of Near Eastern Studies News Letter, Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of Michigan, Fall 2001, Fall 2003 

Research Interests

Islamic Studies, Hebrew Bible, Israelite Religion, SecondTemple Judaisms, Jewish Mysticism, Comparative Religions, African-American Religions

Languages

Reading proficiency: Arabic, Biblical Hebrew, German, French

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