The Penn State community is warmly invited to attend the first lecture in the Society for the Study of Religion's 2025-2026 Lunchtime Lecture series.  This first talk, "Teaching by Example: Charismatic Figures in Islam's Past and Present," will be delivered by Penn State Professor Jonathan Brockopp. Brockopp teaches history, religious studies, and philosophy at Penn State University Park.

About the Talk:

From the Prophet Muḥammad to Süleymān the Magnificent, exemplary leaders in the history of Islam are remembered for their actions and their piety. This act of remembrance creates a template of how to be a Muslim today, and modern leaders, such as Malcolm X or Amina Wadud, build their own authority on their use of this template. Their followers and students grant them authority, in part, because they wield a vocabulary and set of symbols, ranging from Qurʾān quotations to modes of dress and comportment, that add substance to their aura of power.

This event is generously co-sponsored by the Humanities Institute.