Sarah Stroumsa

Prof. Dr. Sarah Stroumsa is the Hans Blumenberg Visiting Professor at the University of Münster’s Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” (Summer 2022). Previously, she served as Rector of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2008–2012) and held the Alice and Jack Ormut Chair in Arabic Studies. Her research focuses on medieval Islamic philosophy, Jewish-Arab intellectual traditions, and cultural exchanges between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. She explores methodological challenges in reconstructing intellectual history from nonverbal medieval texts and critiques modern scholarly classifications of medieval thought.

• Education: Expertise in Arabic and Jewish philosophy, medieval theology.
• Research Interests: Philosophical traditions in the Islamicate world, dissidents in medieval philosophy (e.g., Abū Bakr al-Rāzī), and historiography of cross-religious knowledge transfer.

During her visit, she addressed the Cluster’s theme of “Tradition(s)” through public lectures and masterclasses, emphasizing how political shifts influenced medieval intellectual movements beyond modern academic frameworks. Her work challenges conventional categorizations of medieval thought by prioritizing medieval thinkers’ self-perceptions.

• Awards/Honors: Humboldt Research Prize, Italian Order of Merit, Leopold Lucas Prize.
• Affiliations: Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, American Philosophical Society.