A Hunger and a Thirst

By Stacey Stumpf, "Hot off the press from local profs" - The Journal Gazette - Fort Wayne, IN, USA
Sunday, May 11, 2008

Three recently published books authored by Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne professors provide examples of the wide-ranging academic research and scholarship of the school's faculty.

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Erik Ohlander, 33, is an assistant professor of religious studies and an expert on religious history, mysticism and Islam. He joined the IPFW faculty in August 2004.

His book about the development of Sufism - mystical Islamic belief - in the medieval period in the Mideast was released in February. It is about a person who was significant in popularizing Sufism throughout the Muslim world in the 13th century.

Ohlander traveled to Turkey and several other countries to review archival texts in their original language while researching the book.

“It's based on terra incognita and lays bare an understanding of the historical framework for the rise of this form of religiosity,” Ohlander said.

The book is aimed at academics interested in the history of Sufism and other mystical and ascetical movements. But there is growing interest from the general public about the Muslim world and, specifically, Islam.

At IPFW the growing interest is demonstrated by the increasing number of students interested in religious studies.

The university has developed at least six new courses since the program started in 2003, and the number of students seeking a minor in religious studies has doubled.

“There is a hunger and a thirst for being exposed to the academic study of religion as a complement to other studies here at IPFW,” he said.

Ohlander received a $3,572 grant from Purdue University Libraries and garnered a competitive National Endowment for the Humanities grant of $6,000 to pay for a summer of travel and research to help him complete his second book, “Sufis of Mecca: Mysticism and Transregionality in the Later Medieval Islamic World.”

“Sufism in an Age of Transition: ‘Umar al-Suhrawardi and the Rise of the Islamic Mystical Brotherhoods” (Vol. 71 in the “Islamic History and Civilization” series) By Erik S. Ohlander(Brill Academic Publishers) 364 pages, $177

[Picture: IPFW Professor Erik S. Ohlander's new book is about Sufism, mystical Islamic belief. Photo by Samuel Hoffman/The Journal Gazette].