Richard Foltz
Encyclopedia
Richard Foltz is a Canadian scholar of American
origin. He is a specialist in the history of Iran
and the history of religions
, particularly Islam
and Zoroastrianism
. He has also been active in the areas of environmental ethics
and animal rights
.
, Montréal
, Canada
, Foltz holds a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern History
from Harvard University
. He also holds degrees in Persian literature
and applied linguistics
from the University of Utah
. He has taught at Kuwait University
, Brown University
, Columbia University
, and the University of Florida
. Prior to entering academia he worked as a musician, film critic, and travel writer.
Foltz is founder-director of the program in Iranian Studies
at Concordia. The author of ten books and over one hundred scholarly articles, his work has appeared in more than a dozen languages.
as having arisen from the travels of traders who were mostly of Iranian background.
In addition to religions commonly associated with Iran such as Zoroastrianism
, Manichaeism
, Islam
and the Baha'i faith, Foltz's work highlights the influence of Iranian ideas on Judaism
, Buddhism
and Christianity
. His approach is syncretic, bringing together, in the words of Omid Safi
, "many different bodies of scholarship which have rarely been placed side by side". Commenting on the broad sweep of Foltz's attention to Iranian civilization, a reviewer writes in The Muslim World that "No scholar, save perhaps such giants as Ehsan Yarshater
and Richard Frye, can claim a depth of knowledge of traditions as diverse and covering such a wide historical span".
Apart from his work on Iranian history and civilization, Foltz has played a formative role in the emergence of a new subfield of religious studies
known as religion and ecology
, having edited three seminal works in this area, including two collections devoted to Islam. While sympathetic to attempts by Hossein Nasr, Fazlun Khalid
and others to derive an environmental ethic from Islamic principles, Foltz has questioned the environmental credentials of contemporary Muslim societies, citing fatalism
and strongly pro-natalist attitudes as obstacles to an environmental ethic. He has also challenged claims by Zoroastrians such as Farhang Mehr
that Zoroastrianism is "the world's original environmentalist religion," noting that its cosmic dualism
is at odds with contemporary ecological understanding which sees all species as having a vital role to play in ecosystems. Foltz has been deeply critical of global capitalism, seconding scholars such as David Loy
and Harvey Cox
who argue that the dominant faith system in the world today should properly be referred to as the "Religion of the Market".
Foltz has also published ground-breaking work in the related field of religion and animal rights
. He is the author of the first scholarly book on Muslim attitudes towards animals
, in which he re-assesses traditional Muslim views on such topics as vegetarianism
and the cleanliness of dogs. He has also written on animals in Zoroastrianism.
, forthcoming 2014.
• Ameena: A postmodern tale of role-playing and assimilation (novel), Amazon Kindle
book, 2011.
• Religions of the Silk Road: Premodern Patterns of Globalization, revised 2nd edition, New York: Palgrave Macmillan
, 2010. Persian edition: Dīnhā-ye jādeh-ye abrīsham, tr. A.Pasha’i, Tehran: Enteshārāt-e Farāravān, 1385/2007. Turkish edition: İpek Yolu Dinleri, tr. Aydın Aslan, Istanbul: Medrese Yayınları, 2006. Japanese edition: Shiruku rōdo no shūkyō, tr. Akira Tsunezuka, Tokyo: Kyo Bun Kwan, 2003.
• L’Iran, creuset de religions : de la préhistoire à la Révolution islamique, Québec : Les Presses de l’Université Laval, 2007 (revised and re-written from English original). Persian edition: Gozār-e ma’anaviyat az Īrānzamīn, tr. Ali Shoja’i et al., Qom: Enteshārāt-e Dāneshgāh-e Adyān va mazāheb, 1390/2011; Arabic edition: Al-rūhāniyya fī ard al-nubala’: kayf athart Īrān fī adyān al-‘ālam, tr. Bassam Shiha, Beirut: Al-dār al-‘arabiyya al-‘ulūm, 2006; English edition: Spirituality in the Land of the Noble: How Iran Shaped the World’s Religions, Oxford: Oneworld Publications
, 2004.
• Animals in Islamic Tradition and Muslim Cultures, Oxford: Oneworld Publications
, 2006.
• Editor, Environmentalism in the Muslim World, New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2005.
• Lead editor (with Frederick M. Denny and Azizan Baharuddin), Islam and Ecology: A Bestowed Trust, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
, 2003. Turkish edition, İslam ve Ekoloji: Başedilmiş bir emanet, tr. Nurettin Elhüseyni, Istanbul:
Oğlak Yayınları, 2007.
• Editor, Worldviews, Religion, and the Environment: A Global Anthology, Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Thomson
, 2003.
• Mughal India and Central Asia, Karachi: Oxford University Press
, 1998.
• Conversations with Emperor Jahangir, translated from the Persian by Richard Foltz, Costa Mesa: Mazda Publishers, 1998.
• "Richard C. Foltz." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2005.
• Iranian Studies at Concordia University: http://religion.concordia.ca/iranianstudies/home.htm
• Iranistics: Records of Iranian Studies: http://www.iranistics.com/scholar/richard-foltz
• Asia Society interview: http://asiasociety.org/countries-history/religions-philosophies/religions-silk-road
• Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/Richard-Foltz/e/B001ITVU8I/ref=sr_tc_img_2_0?qid=1284857068&sr=1-2-ent
• Palgrave Macmillan: http://us.macmillan.com/religionsofthesilkroad
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
origin. He is a specialist in the history of Iran
History of Iran
The history of Iran has been intertwined with the history of a larger historical region, comprising the area from the Danube River in the west to the Indus River and Jaxartes in the east and from the Caucasus, Caspian Sea, and Aral Sea in the north to the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman and Egypt...
and the history of religions
History of religions
The history of religion refers to the written record of human religious experiences and ideas. This period of religious history begins with the invention of writing about 5,000 years ago in the Near East. The prehistory of religion relates to a study of religious beliefs that existed prior to the...
, particularly Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
and Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster and was formerly among the world's largest religions. It was probably founded some time before the 6th century BCE in Greater Iran.In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil...
. He has also been active in the areas of environmental ethics
Environmental ethics
Environmental ethics is the part of environmental philosophy which considers extending the traditional boundaries of ethics from solely including humans to including the non-human world...
and animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
.
Biography
A professor in the Department of Religion at Concordia UniversityConcordia University
Concordia University is a comprehensive Canadian public university located in Montreal, Quebec, one of the two universities in the city where English is the primary language of instruction...
, Montréal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Foltz holds a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern History
History of the Middle East
This article is a general overview of the history of the Middle East. For more detailed information, see articles on the histories of individual countries and regions...
from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. He also holds degrees in Persian literature
Persian literature
Persian literature spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has been lost. Its sources have been within historical Persia including present-day Iran as well as regions of Central Asia where the Persian language has historically been the national language...
and applied linguistics
Applied linguistics
Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of study that identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems...
from the University of Utah
University of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
. He has taught at Kuwait University
Kuwait University
Kuwait University was established in October 1966, five years after Kuwait's independence from British Colonization. KU started with only two faculties, namely the Faculty of Science, Arts and Education; and a Women's College. The university had 418 students enrolled and 31 faculty members. By ,...
, Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
, Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, and the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
. Prior to entering academia he worked as a musician, film critic, and travel writer.
Foltz is founder-director of the program in Iranian Studies
Iranian Studies
Iranian studies , is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the study of history, literature, art and culture of the Iranian people. It is a part of the wider field of Oriental studies....
at Concordia. The author of ten books and over one hundred scholarly articles, his work has appeared in more than a dozen languages.
Scholarly contributions
Foltz has emphasized the role of Iranians in the spread of culture in world history, particularly in the domain of religions. In particular, he sees the Silk RoadSilk Road
The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa...
as having arisen from the travels of traders who were mostly of Iranian background.
In addition to religions commonly associated with Iran such as Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster and was formerly among the world's largest religions. It was probably founded some time before the 6th century BCE in Greater Iran.In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil...
, Manichaeism
Manichaeism
Manichaeism in Modern Persian Āyin e Māni; ) was one of the major Iranian Gnostic religions, originating in Sassanid Persia.Although most of the original writings of the founding prophet Mani have been lost, numerous translations and fragmentary texts have survived...
, Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
and the Baha'i faith, Foltz's work highlights the influence of Iranian ideas on Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. His approach is syncretic, bringing together, in the words of Omid Safi
Omid Safi
Omid Safi is Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill where he specializes on Islamic mysticism , contemporary Islamic thought and medieval Islamic history. He has served on the board of the Pluralism project at Harvard University.- Progressive Islam :Professor...
, "many different bodies of scholarship which have rarely been placed side by side". Commenting on the broad sweep of Foltz's attention to Iranian civilization, a reviewer writes in The Muslim World that "No scholar, save perhaps such giants as Ehsan Yarshater
Ehsan Yarshater
Ehsan Yarshater is the founder and director of The Center for Iranian Studies, and Hagop Kevorkian Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies at Columbia University. He was the first full-time professor of Persian at a U.S. university since World War II....
and Richard Frye, can claim a depth of knowledge of traditions as diverse and covering such a wide historical span".
Apart from his work on Iranian history and civilization, Foltz has played a formative role in the emergence of a new subfield of religious studies
Religious studies
Religious studies is the academic field of multi-disciplinary, secular study of religious beliefs, behaviors, and institutions. It describes, compares, interprets, and explains religion, emphasizing systematic, historically based, and cross-cultural perspectives.While theology attempts to...
known as religion and ecology
Religion and ecology
Religion and environmentalism is an emerging subfield in the academic discipline of religious studies.-Crisis of values:This subfield is founded on the understanding that, in the words of Iranian-American philosopher Seyyed Hossein Nasr, "the environmental crisis is fundamentally a crisis of...
, having edited three seminal works in this area, including two collections devoted to Islam. While sympathetic to attempts by Hossein Nasr, Fazlun Khalid
Fazlun Khalid
Fazlun Khalid is the Founder-Director of the Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Science based in Birmingham, England...
and others to derive an environmental ethic from Islamic principles, Foltz has questioned the environmental credentials of contemporary Muslim societies, citing fatalism
Fatalism
Fatalism is a philosophical doctrine emphasizing the subjugation of all events or actions to fate.Fatalism generally refers to several of the following ideas:...
and strongly pro-natalist attitudes as obstacles to an environmental ethic. He has also challenged claims by Zoroastrians such as Farhang Mehr
Farhang Mehr
Farhang Mehr is a Zoroastrian scholar and former politician.-Background:Mehr was born to a Zoroastrian family in Tehran. His father, Mehraban Mehr, was from the province of Kerman, and at the age of 14 migrated to Tehran for greater economic and social opportunities...
that Zoroastrianism is "the world's original environmentalist religion," noting that its cosmic dualism
Dualism
Dualism denotes a state of two parts. The term 'dualism' was originally coined to denote co-eternal binary opposition, a meaning that is preserved in metaphysical and philosophical duality discourse but has been diluted in general or common usages. Dualism can refer to moral dualism, Dualism (from...
is at odds with contemporary ecological understanding which sees all species as having a vital role to play in ecosystems. Foltz has been deeply critical of global capitalism, seconding scholars such as David Loy
David Loy
David Robert Loy is an American author and authorized teacher in the Sanbo Kyodan lineage of Japanese Zen Buddhism.-Early life:Loy was born in the Panama Canal Zone. His father was in the U.S. Navy so the family traveled a great deal. He attended Carleton College in Minnesota, and spent his junior...
and Harvey Cox
Harvey Cox
Harvey Gallagher Cox, Jr. is one of the preeminent theologians in the United States and served as Hollis Research Professor of Divinity at the Harvard Divinity School, until his retirement in October 2009...
who argue that the dominant faith system in the world today should properly be referred to as the "Religion of the Market".
Foltz has also published ground-breaking work in the related field of religion and animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
. He is the author of the first scholarly book on Muslim attitudes towards animals
Islam and animals
The Qur'an strongly enjoins Muslims to treat animals with compassion and not to abuse them. The animals, together with all creatures, are believed to praise God, even if this praise is not expressed in human language....
, in which he re-assesses traditional Muslim views on such topics as vegetarianism
Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism encompasses the practice of following plant-based diets , with or without the inclusion of dairy products or eggs, and with the exclusion of meat...
and the cleanliness of dogs. He has also written on animals in Zoroastrianism.
Books
• Religions of Iran: From prehistory to the present, Oxford: Oneworld PublicationsOneworld Publications
Oneworld Publications is a British independent publishing firm founded in 1986 by Novin Doostdar and Juliet Mabey to publish non-fiction for general and academic markets. Based in Oxford, it publishes across a wide range of subjects, from history, current affairs, and religion to philosophy,...
, forthcoming 2014.
• Ameena: A postmodern tale of role-playing and assimilation (novel), Amazon Kindle
Amazon Kindle
The Amazon Kindle is an e-book reader developed by Amazon.com subsidiary Lab126 which uses wireless connectivity to enable users to shop for, download, browse, and read e-books, newspapers, magazines, blogs, and other digital media...
book, 2011.
• Religions of the Silk Road: Premodern Patterns of Globalization, revised 2nd edition, New York: Palgrave Macmillan
Palgrave Macmillan
Palgrave Macmillan is an international academic and trade publishing company, headquartered in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom and with offices in New York, Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong, Delhi, Johannesburg. It was created in 2000 when St...
, 2010. Persian edition: Dīnhā-ye jādeh-ye abrīsham, tr. A.Pasha’i, Tehran: Enteshārāt-e Farāravān, 1385/2007. Turkish edition: İpek Yolu Dinleri, tr. Aydın Aslan, Istanbul: Medrese Yayınları, 2006. Japanese edition: Shiruku rōdo no shūkyō, tr. Akira Tsunezuka, Tokyo: Kyo Bun Kwan, 2003.
• L’Iran, creuset de religions : de la préhistoire à la Révolution islamique, Québec : Les Presses de l’Université Laval, 2007 (revised and re-written from English original). Persian edition: Gozār-e ma’anaviyat az Īrānzamīn, tr. Ali Shoja’i et al., Qom: Enteshārāt-e Dāneshgāh-e Adyān va mazāheb, 1390/2011; Arabic edition: Al-rūhāniyya fī ard al-nubala’: kayf athart Īrān fī adyān al-‘ālam, tr. Bassam Shiha, Beirut: Al-dār al-‘arabiyya al-‘ulūm, 2006; English edition: Spirituality in the Land of the Noble: How Iran Shaped the World’s Religions, Oxford: Oneworld Publications
Oneworld Publications
Oneworld Publications is a British independent publishing firm founded in 1986 by Novin Doostdar and Juliet Mabey to publish non-fiction for general and academic markets. Based in Oxford, it publishes across a wide range of subjects, from history, current affairs, and religion to philosophy,...
, 2004.
• Animals in Islamic Tradition and Muslim Cultures, Oxford: Oneworld Publications
Oneworld Publications
Oneworld Publications is a British independent publishing firm founded in 1986 by Novin Doostdar and Juliet Mabey to publish non-fiction for general and academic markets. Based in Oxford, it publishes across a wide range of subjects, from history, current affairs, and religion to philosophy,...
, 2006.
• Editor, Environmentalism in the Muslim World, New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2005.
• Lead editor (with Frederick M. Denny and Azizan Baharuddin), Islam and Ecology: A Bestowed Trust, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. In 2005, it published 220 new titles. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. Its current director is William P...
, 2003. Turkish edition, İslam ve Ekoloji: Başedilmiş bir emanet, tr. Nurettin Elhüseyni, Istanbul:
Oğlak Yayınları, 2007.
• Editor, Worldviews, Religion, and the Environment: A Global Anthology, Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Thomson
Cengage Learning
Cengage Learning is a publisher of print and digital information services for the academic, professional and library markets, and delivers customized learning solutions for colleges, universities, professors, students, libraries, government agencies, corporations and professionals around the...
, 2003.
• Mughal India and Central Asia, Karachi: Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, 1998.
• Conversations with Emperor Jahangir, translated from the Persian by Richard Foltz, Costa Mesa: Mazda Publishers, 1998.
External links
• Concordia University faculty bio: http://religion.concordia.ca/FoltzR.html• "Richard C. Foltz." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2005.
• Iranian Studies at Concordia University: http://religion.concordia.ca/iranianstudies/home.htm
• Iranistics: Records of Iranian Studies: http://www.iranistics.com/scholar/richard-foltz
• Asia Society interview: http://asiasociety.org/countries-history/religions-philosophies/religions-silk-road
• Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/Richard-Foltz/e/B001ITVU8I/ref=sr_tc_img_2_0?qid=1284857068&sr=1-2-ent
• Palgrave Macmillan: http://us.macmillan.com/religionsofthesilkroad