Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World

Professor Martin received his PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Literature from New York University in 1975. His scholarly interests include Islamic studies, comparative religions, and religion and conflict. Among his books are Approaches to Islam in Religious Studies (Tucson 1985), Islamic Studies: A History of Religions Approach (Prentice-Hall 1996) and Defenders of Reason in Islam: Mu'tazilism from Medieval School to Modern Symbol (Oneworld 1997). He is co-editor with John Witte of Sharing the Book: Religious Perspectives on the Rights and Wrongs of Proselytism. He co-edited (with Abbas Barzegar) Islamism: Contested Perspectives on Political Islam (Stanford University Press, 2009). With Carl W. Ernst, he co-edited Rethinking Islamic Studies: From Orientalism to Cosmopolitanism (University of South Carolina Press, 2010). At Emory, Martin served as department chair from 1996-1999. He sits on several national academic boards and committees, and he is the immediate past president of the American Research Center in Egypt. He has lectured widely in the United State, Europe, South Africa and Southeast Asia on topics related to Islam and the history of religions. Professor Martin has lived and done research in Egypt and elsewhere in the Muslim world, and he is engaged in cooperative projects with Muslim scholars. In August 2012, Martin became Emeritus Professor of Religion at Emory. Beginning in the summer of 2012, he became Editor of the Review of Middle East Studies and a member of the Editorial Board of the Middle East Studies Association. In the same year he joined the faculty of Virginia Tech University as a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Religion and Culture, where he teaches courses in Islamic Studies part time. He is writing a new textbook for Wadsworth Publishing, Islamic Studies: A Twentieth Century Introduction.