American Religious Darwinism: Teaching Islam in American Protestant Seminaries during the Gilded Age
David Grafton
Hartford International University for Religion and Peace
Date:听Tuesday, February 25, 2025
Time:听12 - 1pm
Location:听24 Quincy Road, Conference Room
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Throughout the 19th century, Islam appeared regularly in the curricula of American Protestant seminaries. Islam was not only the focus of Christian missions but was studied as part of the history of the Church, within the field of Biblical Studies, as well as in the new field of comparative religions. This lecture, drawn from the speaker鈥檚 new book听Muhammad in the Seminary: Protestant Teaching about Islam in the Nineteenth Century听(NYU Press, 2024), explores the way Protestants utilized the Qur鈥檃n within Old Testament Studies, and how they viewed Islam as an important part of the evolution of religions culminating in an American Christianity.
The Rev. Dr. David D. Grafton is the Professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations on the faculty of听the Duncan Black Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations听at Hartford International University. The Duncan Black Macdonald Center is the oldest center of its kind in the United States. Dr. Grafton holds a PhD in Islamic Studies, from the Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, University of Birmingham, England, an MDiv from Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota, and a BA from Capital University, Columbus, Ohio.
Prior to his appointment at Hartford International University, Dr. Grafton served as the asociate professor of Islamic studies and Christian Muslim relations at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia and director of graduate studies (2008-2016), the coordinator of graduate studies and director of the Center for Middle East Christianity at the Evangelical (Presbyterian) Theological Seminary in Cairo (2003-2008), and adjunct lecturer in Islamic studies at the Dar Comboni Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, Cairo, Egypt (2000-2008).
Dr. Grafton鈥檚 academic interests focus on the history of Christian-Muslim relationships, Lutheranism and Islam, Christian theological perspectives on Islam, the history of Christianity in the Middle East, American Christian perspectives of religion and society in the Middle East. He is the author of numerous articles, and chapters of books on Christian-Muslim relations, as well as听The Christians of Lebanon: Political Rights in Islamic Law听(I.B. Tauris, 2004), and听Piety, Politics and Power: Lutherans Encountering Islam in the Middle East听(Wipf and Stock, 2009),听The Contested Origins of the 1865 Arabic Bible: Contributions to the Nineteenth Century Nahda听(Brill, 2015). He was the North American Sections editor for the bibliographic history听Christian-Muslim Relations: A Biographical History 1500-1900听(Brill, 2016, 2020), including vols. 11 and 16, and听An American Biblical Orientalism: The Construction of Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Nineteenth-Century American Evangelical Piety听(Rowman & Littlefield, 2019). His most recent publication is听Muhammad in the Seminary: Protestant Teaching about Islam in the Nineteenth Century听(New York University Press, 2024).
Dr. Grafton often speaks to community groups, congregations, mosques and Islamic centers about interfaith dialogue and relationships, Islam, and Christian-Muslim relations. He is an ordained pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and has served Lutheran congregations in New Jersey, England, and an international congregation in Cairo, Egypt.
Borelli, John. 鈥淐hristian-Muslim Relations in the United States: Reflections for the Future After Two Decades of Experience.鈥� Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.听
https://www.usccb.org/committees/ecumenical-interreligious-affairs/christian-muslim-relations-united-states.
Kidd, Thomas S. 鈥淚slam in American Protestant Thought,鈥� Books and Culture, 2006,
https://www.booksandculture.com/articles/2006/sepoct/22.39.html.
Schlumpf, Heidi. 鈥淭eaching Islam in Christian seminaries,鈥� In Trust Magazine. Autumn 2016,
https://www.intrust.org/in-trust-magazine/issues/autumn-2016/teaching-islam-in-christian-seminaries.
Strasburg, James. 鈥淐reating, Practicing and Researching a Global Faith: Conceptualizations of World Christianity in the American Protestant Pastorate and Seminary Classroom, 1893 to the Present,鈥澨�Journal of World Christianity 6, no. 2 (2016). https://doi.org/10.5325/jworlchri.6.2.0217.
describes an interview with Joel Lohr, the president of the Hartford International University for Religion and Peace 鈥� the institute at which David Grafton teaches. The institute (formerly, the Theological Institute of Connecticut) was one of the first of its kind in its study of Christian-Muslim relations. It exemplifies how some seminaries engaged with Islam in their teaching practices starting in the late 19th century. When asked about the future of seminaries in America, Lohr discussed the importance of interfaith education for all attending seminarians. As a trained historian, Grafton examines the trajectories of similar institutions while working to create a strong inter-faith institution at Hartford. Over forty percent of the student body at Hartford is Muslim, and it is the first seminary in the country to offer a credentialed Islamic chaplaincy program. Grafton's talk focuses on the history of Islam in American Protestant Seminaries, something his institution helped pioneer.
Dr. David Grafton begins his luncheon colloquium at the Boisi Center.
On February 25th, the Boisi Center welcomed Reverend David Grafton, a professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford International University. His luncheon was titled, 鈥淎merican Religious Darwinism: Teaching Islam in American Protestant Seminaries during the Gilded Age,鈥� and was inspired by his newest book, Muhammed in the Seminary.听
Grafton began by explaining the history of his interest in the topic. In 2012, seminaries in the U.S. became required to engage in cross-faith teachings to receive accreditation. He became curious about if and how seminaries taught about Islam before this mandate. Grafton examined Protestant seminaries of a variety of orders from 1808-1836. In order to help determine their relationship with teaching Islam, he looked at what books were available in the library, as well as classes offered and public lectures. He found that Islam was regularly addressed in many of the seminaries in both positive and negative ways. He also noted the importance of Arabic for interpreting Hebrew, which led Arabic to become more common in seminaries. Religious Darwinism existed in the Gilded Age, and Protestantism was the pinnacle of spiritual achievement. However, Islam was part of this teaching and achievement.听
Grafton noted that, prior to the formation of the modern university system, seminaries were the primary centers for teaching Islam, even before universities. In the early 1900s, many cross-religious conversations began to take place at the university rather than the seminary. Toward the end of the luncheon, Grafton engaged questions from the audience. One attendee asked if there was backlash in some seminaries when ordered to teach comparative religions, and Grafton noted that opinions were split. Overall, the luncheon offered a rich conversation and gave a thorough understanding of how Islam was and is taught in American seminaries.