Thomas Hoffmann

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Current research

• PI for the Danish Research Council project "Ambiguity and Precision in the Qur'an"
• The language and semantics of the Qur’an with special emphasis on Neareastern intertextuality and metaphors; the Qur’an in light of cognitive linguistics and CMT (conceptual metaphor theory)
• The Qur’an as literature; the Qur’an in Western literature.
• The Qur’an, corporeality, sexuality and violence.
• The Qur’an and ritual.
• The Qur’an and the natural world. 

Primary fields of research

• Islam with special emphasis on history of religion and phenomenology of religion.
• The qur'anic engagement and intertextual links with biblical literature.
• The historical genesis of the Qur’an.
• Qur’anic studies; development of theory and method in relation to the reading and interpretation of the Qur’an (often inspired by comparative literature studies and criticism, cognitive semantics and Biblical studies).
• The rhetorical-literary and semiotic Gestalt of the Qur’an.
• Other Islamic genres (e.g. hadith, sira, tafsir, poetry).
• Muhammad as a historical and textual figure; Qur’anic characters and protagonists (e.g. Abraham, Jesus and the holy spirit).
• Islamic rituals and aesthetic forms and traditions.
• Islam and the political.
• Islam’s history of research.

Fields of interest

In addition to the above mentioned subjects I am broadly interested in most Islamic subjects, whether of classical or more contemporary character. As such I am always engaged in the political, ethical, and pedagogical challenges in regard to the academic study of and critical gaze on religion in general and Islam in particular. Accordingly, I regularly appear in various fora of popular dissemination, primarily newspapers but also the electronic media.