Dennis Halft was born in Bonn in 1981, Germany, and lives between Berlin and Trier.
He is an Islamic scholar and a Christian theologian. He obtained his PhD in Islamic studies at the Freie Universität in Berlin. In 2019, he was appointed Professor of Abrahamic Religions in the Department of Catholic Theology at the University of Trier.
He is a member of the Dominican Institute for Oriental Studies in Cairo (IDEO), as well as director of the publication of the periodical Mélanges de l’Idéo (MIDEO).
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.