Georgetown University professor to speak about Muslim relations with West

John L. Esposito, an expert on political Islam and the impact of Islamic movements from North Africa to Southeast Asia, offers a talk titled The Future of Islam and West-Muslim Relations at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 4, in Chase Hall Lounge at Bates College, 56 Campus Ave.

The event is open to the public at no cost. It is sponsored by the Office of the Multifaith Chaplain and by Mushahada, an organization of Muslim students at Bates. For more information, please call 207-786-8272.

A University Professor at Georgetown University, Esposito is a professor of religion and international affairs and of Islamic studies. He is founding director of the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the Walsh School of Foreign Service, affiliated with Georgetown.

A consultant to the U.S. Department of State and to corporations, universities and the media worldwide, Esposito has written more than 30 books including Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam (Oxford University Press, 2002), a Washington Post and Boston Globe best seller. He is editor-in-chief of the four-volume Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World.

Esposito has been interviewed or quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, ABC Nightline, CBS and NBC, and by the BBC and many other influential international media.

He has served as president of the Middle East Studies Association of North America and the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies and as vice chair of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy. He is currently a member of the World Economic Forum’s Council of 100 Leaders.

A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Esposito lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Dr. Jeanette P. Esposito.