Herbert Berg, a scholar of religion, was trained at the University of Toronto

University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

's Centre for the Study of Religion in the late 1980s and early 1990s; he is a Professor in the Department of Philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 and Religion

Religion

Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...

, at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington

University of North Carolina at Wilmington

The University of North Carolina at Wilmington, sometimes referred to as UNC Wilmington, is a public, co-educational university located in Wilmington, North Carolina...

 and is the interim Director of the International Studies program.

Although also recognized as a specialist on the Nation of Islam

Nation of Islam

The Nation of Islam is a mainly African-American new religious movement founded in Detroit, Michigan by Wallace D. Fard Muhammad in July 1930 to improve the spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of African-Americans in the United States of America. The movement teaches black pride and...

, Berg's primary work shares much in common with scholars who study the earliest histories of modern religious movements. In this regard, he uses social theory

Social theory

Social theories are theoretical frameworks which are used to study and interpret social phenomena within a particular school of thought. An essential tool used by social scientists, theories relate to historical debates over the most valid and reliable methodologies , as well as the primacy of...

 to study the historical sources and context of the early texts of Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

.

Works by Herbert Berg

• Elijah Muhammad and Islam. NYU Press, 2009.

• with Sarah Rollens. “The Historical Muhammad and the Historical Jesus: A Comparison of Scholarly Reinventions and Reinterpretations.” Studies in Religion / Sciences Religieuses, 32.2 (2008): 271–292.

• "Early African American Muslim Movements and the Qur’an." Journal of Qur’anic Studies, 8.1 (2006): 22–37.

• "Context: Muhammad." Blackwell Companion to the Qur’ān, edited by Andrew Rippin, 187–204. Blackwell, 2006.

• "Mythmaking in the African American Muslim Context: The Moorish Science Temple, the Nation of Islam, and the Muslim Society of America." Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 73.3 (2005): 685–703.

• "Ibn `Abbās in `Abbāsid-Era Tafsīr." Abbasid Studies: Occasional Papers of the School of Abbasid Studies, Cambridge 6–10 July 2002, edited by James E. Montgomery, 129–146. Peeters, 2004.

• "Competing Paradigms in the Study of Islamic Origins: Qur’ān 15:89-91 and the Value of Isnāds." Methods and Theories in the Study of Islamic Origins, edited by Herbert Berg, 259–290. Brill, 2003.

• "Weaknesses in the Arguments for the Early Dating of tafsīr." With Reverence for the Word: Medieval Scriptural Exegesis in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, edited by Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Barry D. Walfish, and Joseph W. Goering, 329–345. Oxford University Press, 2003.

• The Development of Exegesis in Early Islam: The Debate over the Authenticity of Muslim Literature from the Formative Period. Routledge/Curzon, 2000.

• "Elijah Muhammad and the Qur’ān: The Evolution of His Tafsīr." Muslim World 89 (1999): 42–55.

• "Elijah Muhammad: An African American Muslim mufassir?" Arabica: Revue d’études Arabes 45 (1998): 320–46.

• "The Implications of, and Opposition to, the Methods and Theories of John Wansbrough." Method & Theory in the Study of Religion 9.1 (1997): 3–22. Reprinted in The Quest for the Historical Muhammad, edited by Ibn Warraq, 489–509. Prometheus Books, 2000.

• "Tabarī’s Exegesis of the Qur’ānic Term al-kitāb." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 63.4 (1995): 761–774.