Dustin J. Byrd, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Humanities
Phone: 269-749-7382
Dustin J. Byrd, Ph.D., serves as associate professor of humanities. He teaches Civilization Studies, Introduction to Philosophy, Visionary Thinkers, Ethics, Bio-Medical Ethics, Islamic Tradition, Social Justice and Arabic. He has also taught many classes in Europe for Olivet College, including Popes, Saints and Sinners: Renaissance Christianity in Italy; Philosophy of Violence, Suffering and Anti-Semitism; Greek Philosophy and Early Christianity; and most recently, World War II and the Holocaust.
Dr. Byrd studied comparative religion and critical theory at Western Michigan University, where he completed his bachelor’s and master’s degree under the direction of the critical theorist Dr. Rudolf J. Siebert. He later received his Ph.D. in social and political philosophy at Michigan State University, specializing in the Frankfurt School, continental philosophy, philosophy of religion and political philosophy.
In addition to dozens of articles, book chapters and book reviews, Dr. Byrd has written numerous books on a variety of subjects, including contemporary religious issues, the antagonism between the secular and the sacred, and critical political philosophy. Dr. Byrd is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Ekpyrosis Press, an academic peer-review publishing house started in 2019. He has presented his work at several international conferences which, along with teaching, have taken him to Germany, Croatia, Ukraine, Italy, Poland, Netherlands, Greece, Czech Republic and Canada. Dr. Byrd is also the editor-in-chief of the journal “Islamic Perspective,” published by the London Academy of Iranian Studies. He is currently researching and writing on the philosophical foundations of the resurgent nationalist movements in the United States and Europe. More of his work can be found on his personal website at www.dustinjbyrd.org.
PUBLICATIONS
Monographs:
Ayatollah Khomeini and the Anatomy of the Islamic Revolution in Iran: Towards a Theory of Prophetic Charisma. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2011.
A Critique of Ayn Rand’s Philosophy of Religion: The Gospel According to John Galt. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014.
Islam in a Post-Secular Society: Religion, Secularity, and the Antagonism of Recalcitrant Faith. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2017 (Hardcover). Paperback by Haymarket Books, 2018. Translated into Arabic by Mohammed Aafif (Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco). Beirut, Lebanon: Mominoun without Borders, 2018.
Unfashionable Objections to Islamophobic Cartoons: L’affaire Charlie Hebdo. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017.
Critical Theory of Religion: From the Frankfurt School to Emancipatory Islamic Thought: Ekpyrosis Press, 2020.
The Frankfurt School and the Dialectics of Religion: Translating Critical Faith into Critical Theory
Co-Edited Books:
Malcolm X: From Political Eschatology to Religious Revolutionary. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2016.
Paperback by Haymarket Books, 2017.
Ali Shariati and the Future of Social Theory: Religion, Revolution, and the Role of the Intellectual. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2017. Paperback by Haymarket Books, 2018.
Frantz Fanon and Emancipatory Social Theory: A View from the Wretched. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2019.
The Critique of Religion and Religion’s Critique: On Dialectical Religiology. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2019.
Forthcoming:
Syed Hussein Alatas and Critical Social Theory, co-edited with Seyed Javad Miri. (Brill, 2023)
The Many Faces of Populism: Perspective from Critical Theory and Beyond, co-edited with Mlado Ivanovic (Northern Michigan University) and Jeremiah Morelock (Boston College)
