Office: Bear Hall 105
Phone: (910) 962-3299
E-mail: bergh@uncw.edu
Web Site: http://people.uncw.edu/bergh   

Degrees

• Ph.D., Centre for the Study of Religion - University of Toronto
• M.A., Centre for the Study of Religion - University of Toronto
• B.A., Religious Studies / Middle Eastern Studies - University of Waterloo
• B.Math., University of Waterloo

Areas of Expertise

• Islam
• Arabic
• Method and Theory in the Study of Religion
• Judaism
• Psychology of Religion

Recent Publications

• “Mythmaking in the African American Muslim Context: The Moorish Science Temple, the Nation of Islam, and the Muslim Society of America.”  Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 73.3 (2005): 685–703.
• Competing Paradigms in Islamic Origins; Qur'an 15:89-91 and the Value of Isnads.  In Method and Theory in the Study of Islamic Origins, edited by Herbert Berg.  Leiden: Brill, 2003.
• "Weaknesses in the Arguments for the Early Dating of tafsir." In With Reverence for the Word: Medieval Scriptural Exegesis in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, edited by Jane D. McAuliffe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
• The Development of Exegesis in Early Islam: The Debate over the Authenticity of Muslim Literature from the Formative Period. Richmond: Curzon Press, 2000.
• "Elijah Muhammad and the Qur'an: The Evolution of His Tafsir." Muslim World 89 (1999): 42-55.
• "Elijah Muhammad: An African American Muslim mufassir?" Arabica: Revue d'études Arabes 45 (1998): 320-46.

Courses Taught

• PAR 103 - Introduction to Religion  
• PAR 230 - Judaism, Christianity, and Islam  
• PAR 232 - Asian Religions
• PAR 245 - Judaism
• PAR 246 - Islam
• PAR 292 - Research Tools: Introductory Arabic
• PAR 325 - Psychology of Religion
• PAR 342 - Evil and Suffering
• PAR 343 - Atheism and Unbelief
• PAR 495 - Fundamentalism