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Samuel J. Ross

Samuel J. Ross, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

817-257-6449 Beasley Hall 312

Program Affiliations

AddRan College of Liberal ArtsReligion
  • Quran /
  • Modern Religion /
  • Islam

Education

Ph.D., Yale University, 2018
MA, Yale University, 2014
BA, University of Virginia, 2002

Courses Taught

Understanding Religion: Texts and Ideas - The Qur’an
Islam
Modern Islam
Introduction to University Life

Areas of Focus

Islam
Qur'anic Studies, Exegesis, and Commentary Literature (Tafsīr)
Muslim-Christian Relations
Islam and Modernity / Islam in America

Download curriculum vitae

  • Qur’an Commentary and the Biblical Turn: A History of Muslim Exegetical Engagement with the Biblical Text. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2024. For more, please see the publisher's description and the first half of this article.
  • “What Were the Most Popular Tafsīrs in Islamic History? Part 1: An Assessment of the Manuscript Record and the State of European-Language Tafsīr Studies.” Journal of Qur'anic Studies 25, no. 3 (2023) (open-access link).
  • "Modern Epoch: Islam," in Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, Berlin: De Gruyter (2021), 19:594–598.
  • "The Importance of Ottoman Tafsir: A Codicological Perspective," in Osmanlı’da İlm-i Tefsir, ed. M. Taha Boyalık and Harun Abacı (Istanbul: İSAR Yayınları, 2019), 521-537.
  • Kitāb al-naḥw wa-l-ṣarf: al-mustawā al-rābiʿ (Advanced Classical Arabic Grammar and Workbook). Samuel Ross, et al. Qasid Arabic Institute. Amman: 2009. 189 pp.
  • Kitāb al-naḥw wa-l-ṣarf: al-mustawā al-thālith (Intermediate Classical Arabic Grammar and Workbook). Samuel Ross, et al. Qasid Arabic Institute. Amman: 2008. 151 pp.
  • Kitāb al-naḥw wa-l-ṣarf: al-mustawā al-thānī (Beginning Classical Arabic Grammar and Workbook). Samuel Ross, et al. Qasid Arabic Institute. Amman: 2007. 247 pp.
  • "Muslim Views of the Bible in Historical Perspective: The Twentieth Century." Center for Muslim Christian Studies, Oxford. April 22, 2024.
  • “Those Who Believe in What Was Revealed Before”: A History of Muslim Exegetical Engagement with the Biblical Text. Center for Muslim-Christian Studies, Houston, November 2, 2023.
  • “The Bible in Nineteenth-Century Ottoman School Textbooks: Ṭāhir al-Jazāʾirī and his Munyat al-adhkiyāʾ fī qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ.  Muslim Readings of the Bible workshop at the University of Tübingen, Germany, September 28, 2023.
  • “Mapping the Tafsīr Tradition: Which Tafsīr Works Mattered? When, Where, and Why?” New Directions in the Study of Sunni Hermeneutics workshop at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences, Amsterdam, June 20, 2023.
  • "The Bible, The Qur'an, and Islam." Fifteenth Jean and Patrick Henry Seminar, Stalcup School of Theology for the Laity, Brite Divinity School, November 6, 2021.
  • “Islamic Perspectives on Ecology” for “Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Perspectives on Ecology,” Program in Jewish Studies at Brite Divinity School, April 6, 2021.
  • “Tafsir and the Biblical Turn: Modern Developments in Muslim Engagement with the Biblical Text.” Seminar for the Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies, Oxford. March 9, 2021.
  • “Can One Be an ‘Open-Minded Fundamentalist?’ Salafi Discourse on the Use of Jewish and Christian Scriptures.” Paper at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, December 3, 2020.
  • "What Were the Most Popular Qur’an Commentaries in Islamic History? An Assessment of the Manuscript Record and the State of Tafsīr Studies." Freiburg Conversations on Tafsir and Transregional Islamic Networks, September 16, 2020 (via Zoom). Discussant: Ahmed El Shamsy. Please click here for a recording.
  • "Can the Bible Determine the Meaning of the Qur’an? New Developments in Modern Tafsir.” Paper at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, San Diego, California, November 25, 2019.
  • “Is the Bible an Islamic “Scripture?” Expanding the Interpretive ‘Canon’ in Modern Tafsir.” Paper at the Southwest Regional Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Irving, Texas, March 10, 2019.
  • "The Importance of Ottoman Tafsīr: A Codicological Perspective.” Paper for the Symposium, “Ottoman Tafsīr: Scholars, Works, Problems.” İstanbul Araştırma ve Eğitim Vakfı (Istanbul Foundation for Research and Education), Istanbul, Turkey, December 15, 2018.
  • “How Representative is the Corpus of Digitized Arabic Qur’an Commentaries of the Tafsīr Tradition? A Typological, Chronological, and Codicological Assessment.” Paper for the international conference, “Whither Islamicate Digital Humanities? Analytics, Tools, Corpora,” at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Amsterdam, December 14, 2018.
  • “Rethinking Women in the Qur’an after the Biblical Turn.” Southwest Regional Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Irving, Texas, March 10, 2018.
  • “What Were the Most Popular Qur’an Commentaries in Islamic History? An Assessment of the Manuscript Record and the State of Tafsīr Studies.” The Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Boston, Massachusetts, November 21, 2017.
  •  “The Archaeology of Knowledge and the Knowledge of Archaeology: The Grappling of Modern Qur’anic Exegetes with the New Historiography of the Ancient Middle East.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, November 2016.
  •  “A Survey of Tafsīr Evidence for Medieval Muslim Engagement with the Bible.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Orientalist Society, March 2016.
  •  “Explaining the ‘Turning Point’ in Muslim Biblical Scholarship: Why Did al-Biqāʿī (1406 – 1480) Decide to Use the Bible to Interpret the Qur’an?” Paper at a joint session of the annual meetings of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature, November 2014.
  • Research Grant, Center for Islam in the Contemporary World, Fall 2024.
  • Junior Scholar Grant, Southwest Commission on Religious Studies, 2024.
  • Research Grant for Project, "Muslim Faith Trends," Templeton Religion Trust, 2022.
  • Research Grant, Center for Islam in the Contemporary World, Fall 2020.
  • TCU AddRan Faculty Summer Research Award, 2020.
  • TCU Junior Faculty Summer Research Program (JFSRP) Award, 2019.
  • TCU Research and Creative Activities Award, 2019.
  • Co-Chair, Qur'an Group Steering Committee, American Academy of Religion
  • Manuscript Review, Brill Publications, Texts and Studies on the Qur'an series
  • Manuscript Review, Journal of the International Qur'anic Studies Association
  • American Academy of Religion
  • British Association for Islamic Studies
  • International Qur’anic Studies Association

 

Last Updated: November 19, 2024

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