Th. Emil Homerin

Th. Emil Homerin

Thomas Emil Homerin (born 1955 in Pekin, Illinois) is an American scholar of religion. Homerin is one of the most notable scholars of religion in the United States and widely publishes, including books, essays, articles and entries in major encyclopedias such as Encyclopedia Britannica. Currently, he is Professor of Religion in the Department of Religion & Classics at the University of Rochester, where he teaches courses on Islam, classical Arabic literature, mysticism, and Mt. Hope Cemetery in Rochester. [Official Faculty Website at the University of Rochester, accessed 17 September, 2007. http://www.rochester.edu/College/REL/faculty/homerin.html]

Thomas Emil Homerin, who generally abbreviates his first name to "Th." for publication, is the son of Floyd and Miriam Homerin, and brother of John A. Homerin. While growing up in Pekin, Illinois, Homerin attended Douglas Elementary School, Washington Junior High School, and Pekin Community High School. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (B.A. '77, M.A. '78), and completed his Ph.D. with honors at the University of Chicago ('87). Homerin married Nora Walter in 1977, and they have two sons, Luke (born 1987), and Elias (born 1991).

A specialist in Arabic literature and Islam, Homerin has lived and worked in Egypt for a number of years. Among his many publications are "The Wine of Love & Life: Ibn al-Fârid's al-Khamrîyah and al-Qaysarî’s Quest for Meaning" (Chicago, 2005), "From Arab Poet to Muslim Saint" (2nd revised edition, Cairo: American University Press, 2001) and his anthology of translations, "Ibn al-Fârid: Sufi Verse & Saintly Life" (New York, 2001) published as part of the esteemed Paulist Press series "Classics in Western Spirituality". [Official Faculty Website at the University of Rochester, accessed 17 September, 2007. http://www.rochester.edu/College/REL/faculty/homerin.html] The last of these books features a cover painting by fellow former Pekinite Mark Staff Brandl. Homerin also authored several chapters on Islam in "The Religious Foundations of Western Civilization" (Abingdon Press, 2006), edited by Jacob Neusner.

Death and the afterlife have been a major focus of Homerin’s work, and he has carried out field work in Cairo's al-Qarafah cemetery. This initiated his interest in American funerary customs and practice which evolved into his course "Speaking Stones" on Mt. Hope Cemetery in Rochester, New York. ["Rochester Review" 65:2 (2003), http://www.rochester.edu/pr/Review/V65N2/inrev08.html, accessed 19 September 2007. ] This course examines western funeral ritual and practice, with a particular focus on cemeteries in the United States, and how the iconography and epigraphy of graves and funerary monuments forge symbolic connections among the living and the dead. Homerin and his students have published the results of their research in "Epitaph", the newsletter of the Friends of Mt. Hope Cemetery.

Homerin has been the recipient of grants from the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation, the Fulbright Foundation, the American Research Center in Egypt, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He has also received a number of awards including the American Association of Teachers of Arabic Translation Prize, the Golden Key Honor Society's recognition for his contributions to undergraduate education, the G. Granyon & Jane W. Curtis Award for Excellence in Nontenured Teaching, the University of Rochester’s Teacher of the Year Award, and the Goergen Award for Distinguished Achievement and Artistry in Undergraduate Education. [Th. Emil Homerin, "Umar Ibn al-Farid, Sufi Verse, Saintly Life". New York: The Classics of Western Spirituality; Paulist Press, 2001 pg. viii. ]

References

External links

* [http://www.rochester.edu/College/REL/faculty/homerin.html Official site]
* [http://courses.ats.rochester.edu/homerin/REL167/ "Speaking Stones"]
* [http://www.lib.rochester.edu/rbk/epitaph/home.stm "Epitaph"]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Mark Staff Brandl — (1955 in Peoria, Illinois) is an American born artist, art historian and art critic now living primarily in Switzerland.[1] Contents …   Wikipedia

  • 1955 — This article is about the year 1955. Millennium: 2nd millennium Centuries: 19th century – 20th century – 21st century Decades: 1920s  1930s  1940s  – 1950s –  1960s   …   Wikipedia

  • Pekin, Illinois — Geobox|Settlement name = Pekin native name = other name = category = City etymology = official name = motto = nickname = image caption = symbol = country = United States state = Illinois region = Tazewell region type = County district = district… …   Wikipedia

  • Goldene Regel — Als Goldene Regel (lat. regula aurea; engl. golden rule) bezeichnet man einen alten und verbreiteten Grundsatz der praktischen Ethik:[1] „Behandle andere so, wie du von ihnen behandelt werden willst.“ Europäer im 17. Jahrhundert prägten den… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Mark Staff Brandl — (* 1955 in Peoria (Illinois)) ist ein Künstler und Kunsthistoriker an der Kunstschule Liechtenstein. Brandl zählt zu den Künstlern des Nu Painting . Der renommierte Maler kam 1955 in der Nähe von Chicago zur Welt und hat lange Zeit dort gelebt.… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”