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Khurram Hussain, Associate Professor of Religion, Culture and Society at Lehigh University

Khurram Hussain

Associate Professor

610.758.3388
khh209@lehigh.edu
0031 - Williams Hall
Education:

Bowdoin College, A.B. in Religion and Physics (1997)

Yale University, PhD. in Religious Studies (2011)

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Additional Interests

  • Comparative Religion
  • Islamic Studies
  • Modern Western Philosophy
  • Ethics
  • South Asian Studies

Biography

Khurram Hussain is a native of Pakistan, and has lived, worked and studied in the US since 1993. He holds an A.B in Religion and Physics from Bowdoin College (1997) and a PhD. in Religious Studies from Yale University (2011). Hussain is broadly interested in exploring the possibility of a robust critical conversation across diverse cultures and traditions, and has extensive training in comparative ethics, historical sociology and modern Western philosophy. His first monograph, Islam as Critique: Sayyid Ahmad Khan and the Challenge of Modernity (Bloomsbury, 2019), is an exploration of the work of 19th century Indian Muslim reformer Sayyid Ahmad Khan in a comparative perspective with Western thinkers like Reinhold Niebuhr, Hannah Arendt and Alasdair MacIntyre. His second book, The Muslim Speaks (Zed Books, 2020), is a detailed examination of the tropes and discourses surrounding the category of Islam in modern Western public spheres. Dr. Hussain is also an active member of the Center for Global Islamic Studies, the Humanities Center and several other initiatives and programs across the university. In 2011, Hussain was awarded the Waves Award as Male Faculty Ally by the Women’s Center at Lehigh University. 

Books

Islam as Critique: Sayyid Ahmad Khan and the Challenge of Modernity (Bloomsbury, 2019)

The Muslim Speaks (ZED Books, 2020)

Articles and Book Chapters

"Humanism in the Middle East," in Anthony B. Pinn (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Humanism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021) 

“A New Variety of Anti-Secularism?” in Nandini Deo (ed.), Post Secular Feminisms: Religion and Gender in Transnational Context (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018)

“India Forgets the 1971 War and Therefore Judges Pakistan Unfairly,” in Noah Berladsky (ed.), East Pakistan: Genocide and Persecution (Farmington Hills: Greenhaven Press, 2012)

“Tragedy and History in Reinhold Niebuhr’s Thought,” in The American Journal of Theology and Philosophy, Vol.31, No. 2, May 2010

“Religious Nationalism(s) and the Problem of being Christian in the Palestinian Context,” in Koinonia XVII (2005)

“A Muslim Revolution in Egypt,” in The Immanent Frame, February 24, 2011

“To Understand Pakistan, 1947 is the Wrong Lens,” in Outlook, November 9, 2009

Teaching

Intro Courses:

“Virtual” Religion / Religion and Violence / Religion and SciFi (with Dr. Jodi Eickler-Levine) / Intro to World Religions / The Religion of Disney Corp (with Dr. Jodi Eickler-Levine)

100 level Courses:

Modern Islamic Thought: Between Modernity & Tradition / Philosophy of Religion / Comparative Religious Ethics / Islam in South Asia / Islam & the Modern World / Globalization and Religion / Modern Islamic Ethics/ Muslim Asia in the 21st Century: Religion, Culture, Politics / Religious Nationalism in a Global Perspective / The Islamic Tradition

200 Level Courses:

Topics in the Philosophy of Religion / Critics of Modernity 

300 Level Courses and Directed Studies

Buddhism and Emerging Technologies/ Sacred Geometry / Religion and Popular Literature

Honors Thesis Advised

Jordan Eyal, Rebbes of Satmar: An Examination of the Educational, Political, and Legal Leaders within the Satmar Community (2013)

Max Ranzato, Religion, Location, and Space: Interplanetary Colonization And The Alterations Made To Religion In A New Environment (2019)