Research
Interests: Islam in Southeast Asia, Qur’anic
studies, contemporary political Islam, Christian-Muslim Relations.
Peter Riddell took his
BA in Indonesian and Malay Studies and French Language and
Literature at the University of Sydney. This was
followed by a PhD in Islam in Southeast Asia at the Australian National
University, under the supervision of Professor A.H. Johns, and including
a period of studying Qur’anic Exegesis at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes,
Sorbonne, Paris.
His dissertation focused on the earliest complete commentary on the
Qur’an in Malay/Indonesian, its classical Arabic sources, and a linguistic and
historical study of the text.
After graduation, he
first taught at the Australian National University before being posted to
the Institut Pertanian Bogor in Indonesia (1985-88). This was followed by a
period as a post-doctoral fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
(1988-90).
Professor Riddell spent 1990-95 based in Australia. Throughout this period he taught Arabic and Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at the Australian National University and at St Mark’s National Theological Centre. Between 1996-2007 he served as inaugural Director of the Centre for Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at the London School of Theology, where he was appointed as Professor of Islamic Studies in 2003. He also taught modern Southeast Asian History at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London (1999-2001). In January 2008 he took up the position of Professorial Dean of the BCV Centre for the Study of Islam and Other Faiths in Melbourne, Australia. He is also a Senior Fellow with Kairos Journal.
Professor Riddell has
taught the following subjects at undergraduate and postgraduate levels: History of Islam ca. 570 – ca. 1980; Survey of Islam;
Islam in the Modern World; Linguistic approaches to Sacred Texts; Qur’anic and
Post-Qur’anic Interpretation; Modern History of Southeast Asia 1850-1975;
Interfaith Dialogue: Christianity and Islam; Classical Arabic; Religions of the
World in Contemporary Society; Islam: History and Institutions.
Professor Riddell has
published widely on the study of Southeast Asia, Islam, Christian-Muslim
Relations and linguistics. His books
include Transferring a Tradition (Berkeley, Centers for South and Southeast
Asian Studies, University of California, 1990); Islam and the Malay-Indonesian World: Transmission and Responses (London, Hurst Publishers; Hawaii,
University of Hawaii Press; and Singapore, Horizon Press, 2001); Islam in Context
(jointly authored with Peter Cotterell, Grand Rapids, Baker; Leicester:
Intervarsity Press, 2003); and Christians and Muslims: pressures and potential in a post-9/11 world
(Leicester, Intervarsity Press, 2004). His edited volumes include Islam: Essays in
Scripture, Thought and Society (with Tony Street, Leiden, Brill, 1997); and
Angels and Demons (with Beverly Smith
Riddell, Leicester, Intervarsity Press, 2007).