Rate My Professor David Hollenberg

David Hollenberg is Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Oregon, where he has served since 2010, first as Assistant Professor (2010–2016), then as Associate Professor (2016–present). He earned his Ph.D. in Classical Arabic and Islamic Studies from the University of Pennsylvania in 2006. Prior positions include Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at James Madison University (2007–2010) and Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Religion at Carleton College (2004–2006). As director of Arabic in the Department of Religious Studies, he contributes to theology through specialized instruction and research in Islamic traditions.

Hollenberg's scholarship explores how religious communities employ narrative, doctrine, and ritual to construct and sustain identity while distinguishing themselves from outsiders, with primary focus on medieval Islam—especially Ismaili and Nusayri Shiism—as well as Judaic studies pertaining to Jews in Islamic lands. Key publications encompass his monograph Beyond the Qur’an: Early Ismaili Ta’wil and the Secrets of the Prophets (University of South Carolina Press, 2016); co-authored volume The Nusayri Path of Knowledge: A Study and Critical Edition of ʿIṣmat al-Dawla’s Manhaj al-ʿilm wa l-bayān wa-nuzhat al-samʿ wa l-ʿiyān (Brill, 2024); edited collection The Yemeni Manuscript Tradition (Brill, 2015); and open-access textbook Introduction to Arabic: Egyptian Arabic for first-year students (co-authored, 2023). Select articles include “Anta ana wa-ana minka (‘You are me, and I am from you’): A quasi-Nuṣayrī fragment on the intellect in the early Ismāʿīlī treatise Kitāb taʾwīl ḥurūf al-muʿjam” (Brill, 2017); “Manuscript destruction and looting in Yemen: A status report” (co-authored, Chroniques yéménites, 2016); and “Neoplatonism in pre-Kirmānīan Fāṭimid doctrine” (Le Muséon, 2009). He founded and directs the Yemeni Manuscripts Digitization Initiative, which obtained a $330,000 NEH/DFG grant (2010–2013) to safeguard Arabic manuscripts in Yemen's private libraries amid civil strife. Additional honors feature the NEH Scholarly Editions and Translations Collaborative Grant ($130,000, co-PI, 2019–2023), fellowships at the Institute of Ismaili Studies (2014) and Institute for Advanced Study (2019), and University of Oregon Faculty Excellence Award (2021). His preservation efforts have received international media coverage, underscoring their impact on Islamic intellectual history.