معرفی
Christian Lange is Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Utrecht, where he has held a chair since March 2011. He is affiliated with the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies within the Humanities faculty. Lange serves as the Principal Investigator for the NWO Vici Grant project "Rosewater, nightingale and gunpowder: A sensory history of the Islamic world, 1500-1900" (RONIGU, 2023-2028) and previously led the ERC Consolidator Grant project "The senses of Islam" (SENSIS, 2017-2023) and the ERC Starting Grant project "The here and the hereafter in Islamic traditions" (HHIT, 2011-2015).
Lange received his PhD from Harvard University in 2006. Prior to joining Utrecht, he served as Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the University of Edinburgh (2007-2011) and as Adjunct Lecturer in Islamic Studies at Harvard Divinity School & Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University (2006-2007). His educational background includes Islamic Studies, Religious Studies and Law studies at Tübingen University and Cairo University (1997-2000).
Lange's research focuses on premodern intellectual and cultural history, particularly in the areas of Islamic eschatology, Islamic law and legal theory, Islamic mysticism, and the history of the senses in the Islamic world. His work often bridges Islamic Studies and the Study of Religion, examining how sensory experiences shaped Islamic theological, legal, and mystical traditions across different historical periods.
His recent publications reveal a strong concentration on sensory history in Islam, with numerous 2024-2025 articles analyzing historical Islamic texts through the lens of sensory perception. These works cover diverse aspects including olfaction theories, visual culture, tactile experiences, and the legal status of sensory perception in Islamic tradition, demonstrating his leadership in establishing sensory history as a significant approach within Islamic studies.
Lange has received significant recognition for his scholarship, including the 2016 British-Kuwait Friendship Society Bookprize and the joint winner of the 2016 World Award for Book of the Year in Iran for his book "Paradise and Hell in Islamic Traditions" (Cambridge 2016). He is a fellow of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Art and Sciences and a former fellow of the Dutch Young Academy. From 2024 to 2028, he serves as President of the Union Européenne des Arabisants et Islamisants.
Lange has been highly successful in securing major research funding, including ERC Starting and Consolidator Grants and an NWO Vici Grant. His work has led to significant collaborative projects such as the multi-author handbook "Islamic Sensory History" (in three volumes, 2024-). He welcomes inquiries about Research Master and PhD supervision, particularly for projects straddling Islamic Studies and the Study of Religion.
