Somewhere Between Islam and Judaism

If one is unfamiliar with the prolific career of Aaron W. Hughes, then Somewhere between Islam and Judaism: Critical Reflections constitutes an opportune entry point into the work of this dynamic and imaginative scholar. The collection of essays—all but one of which were initially delivered as lectures—cover a wide range of seemingly unrelated topics: disciplinary surveys and interventions into the subfields of Islamic and Jewish studies (chapters 1 and 2), the Ḥimyarite Jewish kingdom of late antique Arabia (chapter 3), the trope of the zindīqs (heretics) in the construction of Islamic orthodoxy in the ʿAbbasid caliphate (chapter 4), the ramifications of a Sunni-centric study of Islam upon the field (chapter 5), the present predicament of Islamic studies in response to rising intolerance and Islamophobia in North America and around the world (chapter 6), an attempt to more completely and critically define “Abrahamic religions” as a subfield (chapter 7), and the development of religious studies in the modern nation state of Canada (chapter 8).

It should be clear from this chapter inventory that Hughes’ scholarly acumen extends to an uncommonly diverse set of subfields and topics. And yet, impressive as this is, it is not Hughes’s range that makes this book worth reading; it is his ability to neatly knit all of these disparate areas together into a cohesive unit. For Hughes, it matters not so much whether his data comes from late antique Arabian Judaism, the classical period of Islam, or modern Canada; each serves as an exemplum of larger issues at stake, namely “the various genealogies, lenses, terms, and narratives that scholars use to bring Islam and Judaism into what they believe to be sharper focus” (8). Broadly, then, the book is concerned with theories and methods in the academic study of religion, particularly within the subfields of Jewish and Islamic studies.

Over the course of his career, Hughes has produced no shortage of disciplinary diagnoses and interventions in both Islamic and Jewish studies. In part 1, chapters 1 and 2, he makes frequent reference to this prior work as he revisits his thoughts on the state of each subfield. This is especially valuable for scholars and students new to his work, providing them with a helpful overview of his previous (and rather extensive) work on both topics. For those who are already familiar with Hughes’ interventions in those subfields, they will appreciate the fresh perspective in this reprisal, where they find a softer and reflective look back on his somewhat bombastic earlier work. One comes away with an appreciation for Hughes’s mature views, even as he notes the difficulties that still plague these subfields.

In part 2, chapters 3, 4, and 5, we encounter a number of case studies that show Hughes’ deftness with primary sources and his well-developed skill for reading in and against the established secondary literature. Perhaps the most remarkable essay is chapter 3, which problematizes the dominant—and apologetic—narratives that underpin Jewish studies by looking at the Jewish presence in late antique Arabia vis-à-vis the Ḥimyarite kingdom. Hughes provocatively suggests that the Ḥimyarites are largely forgotten in Jewish history and Jewish studies because their existence runs counter to the dominant narrative of Jewish ascendancy in the modern period (i.e., Jews were powerless and stateless from the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE until the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948). Here again, we see Hughes’s critical thought at work: while he may find the existence of these Jews in southern Arabia prior to the advent of Islam interesting, it more importantly serves as a datum for larger issues in the (sub)field: in this instance, the extent to which Jewish studies—and, relatedly, Islamic studies—maintains a non-critical and problematic status quo that suppresses the study of paradigm-smashing histories, such as of the Ḥimyarite Jews. In staking this claim, Hughes advocates for a broadening of our understanding of Jewish languages, texts, and histories so that we may better understand “Judaism” in its many iterations from biblical times to the present day.

In part 3, the final section of the book, Hughes delivers disparate chapters that take a more “constructive” approach. In each, he attempts to provide a prescriptive methodological approach to some aspect of the academic study of religion. Perhaps the most instructive of these is chapter 7, “Abrahamic Religions: The Second Generation.” Conceived as a response to his consequential monograph Abrahamic Religions: On the Uses and Abuses of History (Oxford University Press, 2013), Hughes remarks that in the years that have passed since his initial critique, the phrase “Abrahamic religions” remains ubiquitous in the academy. What, then, is one to do? In this chapter, Hughes provides a response to this question, detailing what we might understand the phrase “Abrahamic religions” to describe, how this phrase can be used responsibly and skillfully in scholarly analysis, and the ways in which we might chart a path forward in the emerging subfield of Abrahamic religions.

With the essays found in Somewhere between Islam and Judaism, Hughes reminds us just how important it is to re-examine our tools of scholarly inquiry and analysis. Attention to method, theory, and self-reflexivity, as well as a willingness to challenge the scholarly status quo, all remain virtuous traits in the eyes of Hughes—an exhortation to which we might all responsibly cleave. Constituting both a helpful introduction to this scholar’s wide-ranging work and a welcome revisit and refresh for those invested in Hughes’s long-term intellectual project, this volume should find its place easily on the shelves of scholars and students of religion alike.

Adam T. DeSchriver is a Divinity Dean’s MA Fellow at the University of Chicago Divinity School.

Adam DeSchriver

Date Of Review:

March 15, 2023