Christopher Taylor

          Professor Christopher S. Taylor is Chair of the Religious Studies Department and is former and founding Director of the Middle East Studies Program at Drew. A specialist in the social history of religion, Professor Taylor earned his B.A. in History at Johns Hopkins University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies at Princeton. Professor Taylor's first book dealt with the veneration of Muslim saints in medieval Egypt and he is currently working on a project investigating how Muslims in the medieval world constructed broad notions of moral order. He has lived in Lebanon for three years and in Egypt for nearly seven years. He has also travelled extensively in the region. Since 1993 Professor Taylor has led 9 short-term study programs for Drew students in the Middle East. Before coming to Drew, Professor Taylor served as the Acting Executive Director of the Center for Arabic Study Abroad (CASA) at the American University in Cairo, and he is a member of the Board of Governors of the American Research Center in Egypt.