Sebastian Günther

Sebastian Günther is a German scholar specializing in Arabic and Islamic Studies.

Biography

He pursued Arabic and Islamic studies at Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany (1981-1986), where he earned his M.A. in 1986 and his Ph.D. in 1989.^[1][2]

After receiving his doctorate, Sebastian Günther began his academic career at Martin Luther University, engaging in research and teaching at the Institute of Oriental Studies.^[3] During his early career, he visited several institutions of higher learning in the Middle East, including al-Azhar University in Cairo,^[4] the National UAE University in Al-Ain, the German Orient Institute in Beirut,^[5] and the American University of Beirut.^[6]

From 1998 to 2008, Günther was a faculty member of the University of Toronto's Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations as an Assistant and Associate Professor.^[7][8] Since 2008, Sebastian Günther has been a University Professor and Chair of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Georg August University, Göttingen.^[9][10]

Achievements

Günther has received several academic recognitions throughout his career, including an Award for Outstanding Academic Contributions from the President of the International Islamic University in Islamabad, Pakistan,^[11] and in 2018, a Certificate and Medal of Appreciation for his work fostering dialogue between East and West, from the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar in Cairo.^[12]

He has also been an Associate Member of the Lichtenberg Institute for Advanced Studies in Göttingen (2011- 2012),^[13] and was awarded a Willis F. Doney Fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton (2017-2018)^[14] and a Hans Robert Roemer Research Fellowship at the German Orient Institute of Beirut in 2022.^[5]

From 2010 to 2015, he served as President of the Union Européenne des Arabisants et Islamisants (UEAI).^[15]

In April 2025, Sebastian Günther was elected an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Class IV: Humanities and Arts.^[16][17]

Publications (selection)

Sebastian Günther's research focuses on Islamic thought and Arabic literature. His works often reflect interdisciplinary approaches in history, philosophy, and literature^{[18][19] [20][21]} to provide insights into Islam’s intellectual traditions with particular attention to the history of Islamic education.^[22][23]

Some of his publications also deal with the dialogues between the Abrahamic religious traditions, highlighting the interconnections and shared narratives that have shaped religious thought in the Mediterranean across centuries.^[24][25][26]

Books

• Building Bridges: Ignaz Goldziher and His Correspondents, Islamic and Jewish Studies around the Turn of the Twentieth Century, ed. by Hans-Jürgen Becker, Kinga Dévényi, Sebastian Günther and Sabine Schmidtke, Brill: Leiden 2024
• Rabbinī wa-ʿallimnī: Dirāsāt fī l-khitāb al-tarbawī wa-l-akhlāqī fī l-Islām (Raise and Educate Me: Studies in the Educational and Ethical Discourses of Islam), Beirut: Dār al-Mashriq 2023, 478 pp. - ISBN 978-2-7214-8181-8.
• Islamic Ethics as Educational Discourse: Thought and Impact of the Classical Muslim Thinker Miskawayh (d. 1030), ed. by Sebastian Günther and Yassir El-Jamouhi, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2021.
• Lesen, Deuten und Verstehen?! Debatten über heilige Texte in Orient und Okzident, hrsg. von Sebastian Günther und Florian Wilk, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2021.
• Knowledge and Education in Classical Islam: Religious Learning between Continuity and Change, 2 vols., Leiden: Brill 2020. – (Islamic History and Civilization 172).
• Doctrinal Instruction in Early Islam: The Book of the Explanation of Sunna by Ghulām Khalīl (d. 275/888). Edition, Translation and Study, by Maher Jarrar, in collaboration with Sebastian Günther, Leiden: Brill 2020. – (Islamic History and Civilization 174).
• Die Geheimnisse der oberen und der unteren Welt: Magie im Islam zwischen Glaube und Wissenschaft, hrsg. von Sebastian Günther and Dorothee Pielow, Leiden: Brill 2018. – (Islamic History and Civilization 158).
• Roads to Paradise: Eschatology and Concepts of the Hereafter in Islam. I. Foundations and the Formation of a Tradition: Reflections on the Hereafter in the Quran and Islamic Religious Thought. II. Continuity and Change: The Plurality of Eschatological Representations in the Islamicate World, ed. by Sebastian Günther and Todd Lawson, with the assistance of Christian Mauder, Leiden: Brill 2016. – (Islamic History and Civilization 136).
• Representations and Visions of Homeland in Modern Arabic Literature, ed. by Sebastian Günther and Stefan Milich, Hildesheim: Olms 2016. – (Arabistische und Islamwissenschaftliche Texte und Studien 20).
• Von Rom nach Bagdad: Bildung und Religion von der römischen Kaiserzeit bis zum klassischen Islam. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. 2013. ISBN 978-3-16-151679-5.
• Ideas, Images, and Methods of Portrayal: Insights into Classical Arabic Literature and Islam, ed. by Sebastian Günther, Leiden: Brill 2005. – (Islamic History and Civilization 58).
• Aspects of Literary Hermeneutics in Arabic Culture: Myths, Historical Archetypes and Symbolic Figures in Arabic Literature, ed. by Angelika Neuwirth, Brigit Embaló, Sebastian Günther and Maher Jarrar, Wiesbaden, Beirut: Franz Steiner [et al.] 1999. – (Beiruter Texte und Studien 64).
• Johann W. Fück: Vorträge über den Islam. Aus dem Nachlaß herausgegeben und um einen Anmerkungsteil ergänzt von Sebastian Günther, Halle/Saale: Institute für Orientalistik, Martin-Luther-Univ. Halle-Wittenberg 1999. – (Hallesche Beiträge zur Orientwissenschaft 27).
• Erlesenes. Sonderheft anläßlich des 19. Kongresses der Union Européenne d’Arabisants et Islamisants , ed. by Walter Beltz and Sebastian Günther, Halle (Saale): Universitätsdruckerei, 1998. – (Hallesche Beiträge zur Orientwissenschaft 25).
• Quellenuntersuchungen zu den Maqātil aṭ-Ṭālibiyyīn des Abū ’l-Faraǧ al-Iṣfahānī (gest. 356/967) , Hildesheim: Olms 1991. – (Arabistische Texte und Studien 4).

External links

• Official website at University Göttingen