William A. Graham

William A. Graham

Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus
Murray A. Albertson Professor of Middle Eastern Studies
William A. Graham

BA, University of North Carolina
AM, PhD, Harvard University

Professor Graham has been a member of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences since 1973 and a member of the Committee on the Study of Religion since 1974. He served as Dean of Harvard Divinity School from 2002-2012. He has also served as director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Master of Currier House, and chair of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, the Committee on Middle Eastern Studies, and the Core Curriculum Committee on Foreign Cultures. He is former chair of the Council on Graduate Studies in Religion (N. America).

Graham's scholarly work has focused on early Islamic religious history and textual traditions and problems in the history of world religion. He has been recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Journal of Law and Religion in 2012 and the quinquennial Award for Excellence in Research in Islamic History and Culture of the Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (Istanbul), the research institute of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, in 2000. He has held John Simon Guggenheim and Alexander von Humboldt research fellowships and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the author of Islamic and Comparative Studies: Selected Writings (2010); Beyond the Written Word: Oral Aspects of Scripture in the History of Religion (1987, 1993); Divine Word and Prophetic Word in Early Islam (1977; American Council of Learned Societies History of Religions Prize, 1978); co-author of The Heritage of World Civilizations (9th rev. ed., 2011); Three Faiths, One God (2002); and co-editor of Islamfiche: Readings from Islamic Primary Sources (1982-87). He is also the author of numerous articles and reviews. He is a summa graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds honorary doctorates from UNC and Lehigh University.

Professor Graham is currently teaching.

Contact Information

Harvard University
The Study of Religion
12 Quincy St., Barker Center
Cambridge, MA 02138

office hours: contact professor directly
p: 617-495-5775

Areas of Study

Methodologies and Approaches