John Turner

Education

Ph.D., University of Michigan, 2001
M.A., University of Michigan, 1996
B.A., Furman University, 1993

Areas of Expertise

• Islam
• Premodern Islamic History
• Modern Middle East History
• Islamic law (development of Hanbali School)
• Iran

Personal Information

Professor Turner researches, writes, and teaches about Middle East and Islamic history and has been a member of the History Department at Colby since 2006 (Chair, 2014-15, 15-22) and was Associate Director of the Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs (2010-14). His research focuses on the intersection of political and religious authority and the effects of legitimation building on the development and application of law and of power. He is keenly interested in understanding the definition of groups and group behavior, particularly as it pertains to the categorization and exclusion of heresy and heretics. He is particularly focused on how those relate to charismatic authority and the attempts to legitimate power for the 8th-10^th century Caliph and the Caliphate. His book, Inquisition in Early Islam, examines these issues pertaining in the Mihna in the early 9^th century. As part of his graduate training, he studied modern history with a focus on Syria and Iran, where he also studied Arabic (in Damascus) and Persian (in Tehran). His courses range from surveys of the premodern and modern periods in the Middle East to country specific; covering from the foundations of Islam to the current day.