Shia Islam and Politics: Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon

A conversation with Jon Armajani, Ph.D.
moderated by Jason Schlude, Ph.D.
Tuesday, September 22, 2020, 4:45 – 5:45 PM

The recently published book Shia Islam and Politics: Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon by Jon Armajani will be the subject of this event. The book argues that since Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979, which established a Shia Islamic government in Iran, that country’s religious and political leaders have used Shia Islam as a crucial way of expanding Iran’s objectives in the Middle East and beyond. The book analyzes Shia Islam and politics in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon, which have among the largest proportional Shia populations in the Middle East and are vibrant centers of Shia intellectual life. At the same time, it explores Shia worldviews, governmental structures, education, and social service while considering Shia Islam and politics beyond those three countries. This program will begin with a brief presentation by Professor Armajani, followed by an interview with him about the book and an open question-and-answer session. 

Link to the e-book version of Professor Armajani’s new book: Shia Islam and Politics: Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon. CSB/SJU username and password is required for login.

Jon Armajani is professor in the Peace Studies Department at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University. He is the author of Dynamic Islam: Liberal Muslim Perspectives in a Transitional Age (2004), Modern Islamist Movements: History, Religion, and Politics (2012), and Shia Islam and Politics: Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon (2020). He coedited with James E. Lindsay Historical Dimensions of Islam: Pre-Modern and Modern Periods; Essays in Honor of R. Stephen Humphreys (2009). Professor Armajani earned his B.A., Phi Beta Kappa, with a major in philosophy and a minor in German at Oberlin College; his M.Div. at Princeton Theological Seminary; and his Ph.D. in religious studies with a focus on Islamic and Middle Eastern studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He also studied Islam and Christianity on a one-year exchange fellowship through Princeton Seminary, at Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen in Germany.

Jason Schlude is associate professor of classics and chair of the Department of Languages and Cultures at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University.  He is also co-director of the Omrit Settlement Excavation Project in Israel and a former Getty Scholar at the Getty Research Institute and Villa. An historian, archaeologist, and essayist with interest in the ancient Greek, Roman, and Near Eastern worlds, Professor Schlude is the author of Rome, Parthia, and the Politics of Peace: The Origins of War in the Ancient Middle East (Routledge Press, 2020) and the co-editor with Benjamin Rubin of Arsacids, Romans, and Local Elites: Cross-Cultural Interactions of the Parthian Empire (Oxbow Books, 2017). He earned his B.A. in classics, religious studies, and geology at Macalester College and his M.A. and Ph.D. in ancient history and Mediterranean archaeology at the University of California, Berkeley.

Sponsored and organized by
Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning at Saint John's University 

co-sponsored by
Peace Studies Department at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University
The Eugene J. McCarthy Center for Public Policy & Civic Engagement at Saint John’s University 
College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University Phi Beta Kappa Chapter
Jay Phillips Center for Interreligious Studies at the University of St. Thomas
Encountering Islam Program at the University of St. Thomas

with generous support from
Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation of Minnesota