Dennis Halft was born in Bonn, Germany, in 1981, and lives at St. Andrew’s House in Cologne.
He is an Islamic scholar and a Christian theologian. He obtained his PhD in Islamic studies at the Freie Universität in Berlin. Since 2020, he has been Professor of Abrahamic Religions at the Catholic Faculty of Theology at the University of Trier.
He is a member of the Dominican Institute for Oriental Studies in Cairo (IDEO).
His research focuses on interreligious interactions. He has several publications on medieval and premodern Muslim polemic works against Judaism and Christianity as well as contemporary interreligious dialogue.
Selected publications:
- 2023: “Islamischer Religionsunterricht in Rheinland-Pfalz – Chance auf einen innermuslimischen Dialog?”, in: F. Kunz, M. Lörsch und A. Wuckelt (Hrsg.), partizipativ – prozesshaft – hoffnungsvoll. Katechese in Gegenwart, Trier, Paulinus, 166-176.
- 2023: “Mullā ʿAlī Nūrī”, in: Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History, Bd. 20 (Iran, Afghanistan and the Caucasus 1800-1914), hrsg. von D. Thomas und J. Chesworth, Leiden, Brill, 143-149.
- 2020: A Newly Discovered Persian Treatise on Biblical ‘Proof’ of Muhammad’s Prophethood (ca. 1702) by a Missionary Convert to Šīʿī Islam. MIDEO, p. 137‒159.
- 2020: Seeking Fullness of Life in an ‘Oasis of Peace’: Bruno Hussar’s Vision of a Shared Jewish-Palestinian Community. Fullness of Life and Justice for All: Dominican Perspectives, édité par E. Van Stichel, Th. Eggensperger, M. Kalsky & U. Engel. Adelaide: ATF Theology, p. 33‒43.
- 2017: Towards a New Perception of Islam: The influence of Marie-Dominique Chenu’s Theology of Incarnation on Christian-Muslim Relations.The Promise of Renewal: Dominicans and Vatican II, édité par M. Attridge, D. Dias, M. Eaton & N. Olkovich. Adelaide: ATF Theology, p. 225‒239.
- 2017: Ismāʿīl Qazvīnī A twelfth/eighteenth-century Jewish convert to Imāmī Šīʿism and his critique of Ibn Ezra’s Commentary on the four kingdoms (Daniel 231‒45). Senses of scripture, treasures of tradition: The Bible in Arabic among Jews, Christians and Muslims, édité par M. L. Hjälm. Leiden: Brill, 2017, p. 280‒304.
- 2014: Saʿīd b. Ḥasan al-Iskandarī: A Jewish convert to Islam. Editio princeps of the later recension (732/1331) of his Biblical ‘Testimonies’ to the Prophet Muḥammad. MIDEO, 30, p. 267‒320.
- 2013: Hebrew Bible quotations in Arabic transcription in Safavid Iran of the 11th/17th century: Sayyed Aḥmad ʿAlavī’s Persian refutations of Christianity. Intellectual history of the Islamicate world 1, p. 235‒252.
- 2012: A hitherto unknown Persian manuscript of Ḥosayn Vāʿeẓ Kāšefī’s (d. 910/1504‒05) treatise on ethics Aḫlāq-e moḥsenī in the Dominican Priory in Vienna. Journal of Islamic manuscripts 3, p. 103‒115.