Noah D. Gardiner

Noah D. Gardiner serves as Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of South Carolina's College of Arts and Sciences. His academic journey includes a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan (2014), followed by positions as Lecturer in Islamic Studies at Michigan and a postdoctoral fellowship at Annemarie Schimmel Kolleg, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität Bonn.

Gardiner's scholarly focus centers on Islamic thought and culture with particular emphasis on Sufism, esotericism, occult sciences, and manuscript culture in the 12th-15th century Arabic-speaking Mediterranean. His research explores the 'science of letters and names' (ʿilm al-huruf wa-al-asmaʾ), religious cosmology, and apocalypticism, examining how mystical ideas move between religious margins and centers. His work reveals significant connections between Islamic occult traditions and other esoteric systems like Jewish Kabbalah.

His extensive publication record includes the monograph Ibn Khaldūn versus the Occultists at Barqūq's Court (2020), co-editing the special issue Islamicate Occultism: New Perspectives (2017), and numerous articles in leading journals. His current research focuses on the 13th-century Sufi occultist Aḥmad al-Būnī and the broader occult renaissance in 14th-15th century Cairo.

Gardiner actively contributes to the scholarly community through his role as co-organizer of the international online workshop 'Islamic Occult Studies on the Rise' and administrator of the scholarly resource site islamicoccult.org, which showcases emerging scholarship in Islamic esotericism. He teaches courses spanning foundational religion studies to specialized topics including Islam, Qur'an, Hadith, Islamic Theology, Sufism, and Religion and the Fantastic.