Hughes received a
B.A. in
Religious studies at the
University of Alberta in 1993. He then went to the department of religious studies at
Indiana University in Bloomington, where he received a
M.A. in 1995 and a
Ph.D. in 2000 for a dissertation entitled Philosophy's Mythos: Aesthetics, the Imagination, and the Philosophical Novel on Medieval Jewish and Islamic Thought.[citation needed] This was subsequently published as The Texture of the Divine: Imagination in Medieval Islamic and Jewish Thought (
Indiana University Press, 2004) and was one of three finalists for a
Koret Jewish Book Award in the Thought/Philosophy category.[1]
Career
Hughes is a scholar of three interrelated fields of research:
Jewish studies,
Islamic studies, and theory and method in the study of religion.
Hughes has primarily been interested in critiquing what he regards as the overly apologetical and ecumenical approach to Islamic Studies. Two of his books take aim at the field: Situating Islam and Theorizing Islam.[2] Hughes has also attempted a corrective with his Muslim Identities, which is an attempt to provide an introduction to Islam in ways that eschews the approaches of scholars like Fred Denny and
John Esposito. Writing in the Journal of Islamic Studies,
Murad Wilfried Hofmann describes Hughes' Muslim Identities as "the very best introduction currently available in English for non-Muslims seeking a sound approach to Islam."[3] However, writing in the Review of Middle East Studies, Peter Matthews Wright criticized the author's uneven tone and reversion to language that undermines Hughes' stated aims.[4]
Hughes was co-editor of Method and Theory in the Study of Religion (MTSR).[5] He was the editor of the Academy Series, published by
Oxford University Press for the
American Academy of Religion,[6] and co-editor for the Library of Contemporary Jewish Philosophers.[7]
In 2022, he cofounded the Journal of Religious Minorities Under Muslim Rule (JRMMR).[citation needed]
In 2020, Hughes published From Seminary to University: An Institutional History of the Study of Religion in Canada (University of Toronto Press). The book offers the first history of the study of religion in Canada. This was followed by 10 Days that Shaped Modern Canada, which he wrote during the COVID-19 pandemic while a visiting fellow at the University of Oxford.
In 2022, his work on medieval Islam—An Anxious Inheritance cam out, as did 10 Days. The latter work chose 10 significant days in Canadian history over the past 50 years and the events and their impact.
Hughes has subsequently written on the papal apology in Maskwacis, Alberta, and has written a biography of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.[citation needed]
Books
Authored
Hughes, Aaron W. (18 November 2003). The Texture of the Divine: Imagination in Medieval Islamic and Jewish Thought. Indiana University Press.
ISBN0253343534.
Hughes, Aaron W. (1 January 2005). Jewish Philosophy A-Z. Edinburgh University Press.
ISBN0748621776.
Hughes, Aaron W. (17 December 2007). The Art of Dialogue in Jewish Philosophy. Indiana University Press.
ISBN978-0253219442.
Hughes, Aaron (15 January 2008). Situating Islam. Equinox Publishing.
ISBN978-1845532604.
Hughes, Philip S. Bernstein Chair of Jewish Studies Aaron W. (1 October 2013). The Study of Judaism: Authenticity, Identity, Scholarship. State University of New York Press.
ISBN978-1438448619.
Hughes, Aaron W. (3 February 2014). Rethinking Jewish Philosophy: Beyond Particularism and Universalism. Oxford University Press.
ISBN978-0199356812.
Hughes, Aaron W. (2015). Islam and the Tyranny of Authenticity: An Inquiry into Disciplinary Apologetics and Self-deception. Equinox Publishing Limited.
ISBN978-1781792179.
Hughes, Aaron W., ed. (2010). Defining Judaism: A Reader. Equinox.
ISBN9781845536091.
Hughes, Aaron W.; Wolfson, Elliot R., eds. (22 December 2009). New Directions in Jewish Philosophy. Indiana University Press.
ISBN978-0253221643.
Diamond, Professor James A.; Hughes, Philip S. Bernstein Chair of Jewish Studies Aaron W., eds. (1 August 2012). Encountering the Medieval in Modern Jewish Thought. Brill.
ISBN978-9004233508.