Aga Khan University, United Kingdom
Prof. Dr. Philip Wood
Tejpar Professor of Inter-Religious Studies
Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (AKU-ISMC)
Official University Profile: Aga Khan University – Philip Wood
Expertise: Late Antiquity; Early Islamic History; Syriac Christianity; Christian-Muslim Relations; Middle Eastern History; Historiography; Hagiography; Religious Minorities; Inter-Religious Studies; Abbasid and Umayyad History.
Member of Editorial Board of European Hebrew Journal
CURRICULUM VITAE
Academic Profile
Prof. Dr. Philip Wood is Tejpar Professor of Inter-Religious Studies at the Aga Khan University’s Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations in London. He is internationally recognized as a leading historian of the late antique and early Islamic Middle East, with particular expertise in Syriac Christianity and the history of religious minorities under Roman, Sasanian, Umayyad, and Abbasid rule.
He studied History at the University of Cambridge, completed an M.Phil. in Byzantine Studies at the University of Oxford, and earned his D.Phil. in History at Oxford with research on late Roman Syria. Before joining Aga Khan University in 2012, he held academic positions at the University of Oxford, SOAS University of London, and the University of Cambridge.
His scholarship explores how Christian communities adapted to political and religious change between the sixth and tenth centuries, drawing upon Syriac, Arabic, and Greek historical sources. His work combines historical analysis, historiography, and the study of identity formation in the medieval Middle East.
QUALIFICATIONS
B.A. in History, University of Cambridge.
M.Phil. in Byzantine Studies, University of Oxford.
D.Phil. in History, University of Oxford.
ACADEMIC POSITIONS AND APPOINTMENTS
Tejpar Professor of Inter-Religious Studies, Aga Khan University.
Professor, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, Aga Khan University.
Head of Education and Learning, Aga Khan University.
Acting Dean, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations.
Former academic appointments at the University of Oxford, SOAS University of London, and the University of Cambridge.
Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society.
Member of Academia Europaea.
RESEARCH
Prof. Wood’s research focuses on the history of Christian communities in the Middle East between approximately AD 500 and 1000. His work examines Syriac and Arabic historical writing, hagiography, ethnogenesis, communal identity, and the interaction between religious minorities and imperial governments.
A major focus of his scholarship concerns the transformation of Christian institutions during the transition from the Roman and Sasanian empires to the Islamic caliphates. He is currently directing an international research project on the formation of ethnic and religious communities in the Abbasid Caliphate supported by the Gerda Henkel Foundation.
His research also extends to religious education, interfaith dialogue, and the contemporary role of history in understanding religious diversity.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Late Antiquity
Early Islamic History
Syriac Christianity
Christian-Muslim Relations
Middle Eastern History
Historiography
Hagiography
Ethnogenesis
Religious Minorities
Abbasid Caliphate
Umayyad Caliphate
Inter-Religious Studies
Byzantine Near East
Syriac Literature
ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP
Tejpar Professor of Inter-Religious Studies, Aga Khan University.
Head of Education and Learning, Aga Khan University.
Former Acting Dean, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations.
Member, Academia Europaea.
Fellow, Royal Historical Society.
Fellow, Royal Asiatic Society.
PRIZES AND AWARDS
AKU Distinguished Leadership Award (2024).
AKU Research Award (2021).
Gerda Henkel Foundation Research Grant.
British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship.
British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award.
British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship.
PUBLICATIONS
Selected Publications
We Have No King but Christ: Christian Political Thought in Greater Syria on the Eve of the Arab Conquest. Oxford University Press, 2010.
The Chronicle of Seert: Christian Historical Imagination in Late Antique Iraq. Oxford University Press, 2013.
History and Identity in the Late Antique East, 500–1000. (Editor). Oxford University Press, 2013.
The Imam of the Christians: The World of Dionysius of Tel-Mahre, 750–850. Princeton University Press, 2021.
What Is Islamic Studies? European and North American Approaches to a Contested Field. (Co-editor). Edinburgh University Press, 2022.
Numerous articles on Syriac Christianity, early Islam, historiography, hagiography, Christian-Muslim relations, and the history of the medieval Middle East published in leading international journals and edited volumes.