John L. Esposito, leading US scholar of Islam, dies aged 86
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John L. Esposito, a leading US scholar of Islam, has died aged 86, Georgetown University and his family said. He died on July 15 after a career of more than five decades devoted to teaching, writing and promoting dialogue between Muslims and the West.
Born in Brooklyn in 1940, Esposito taught world religions at the College of the Holy Cross for nearly 20 years before joining Georgetown University, where he later founded the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. He also helped launch the Bridge Initiative, a project focused on studying and countering Islamophobia.
Esposito wrote, co-wrote or edited more than 50 books, including Islam: The Straight Path, The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality? and What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam. His 2007 book Who Speaks for Islam? drew on more than 50,000 interviews across Muslim-majority countries and became one of the most cited studies of Muslim public opinion.
A practising Catholic, Esposito often said his own faith supported his interest in interreligious understanding. Tributes came from figures including Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who called him “a true friend of the Islamic world,” and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which praised his efforts to advance accurate understanding of Islam and Muslims.
He is survived by his wife, Dr Jeanette P. Esposito.