Angeliki Ziaka

Brief CV

Dr. Angeliki Ziaka (Ph.D., University of Strasbourg, 2002) is Professor of the Study of Religion, Scientific Head of the Committee of the Undergraduate Program in Islamic Studies at the School of Theology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and Visiting Professor at the Schools of Political Science and Education. She accomplished Master and Doctoral studies at the Faculty of Catholic Theology in Strasbourg and followed postgraduate studies at the Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies in Rome and at the History Department of the Royal University of Amman. She has conducted research in Iran and Oman since 2006. Dr. Ziaka was a LUCIS Fellow (Leiden University Centre for the Study of Islam and Society-2014) and a Fellow of the Middle East Institute at Columbia University in the city of New York (2017).

Her main areas of academic specialization and of teaching include early and medieval Islamic Kalam, Ibadi and Shi’a Islam; Byzantine and post-Byzantine literature on Islam; religious historical narratives and the re-articulating of Muslim identities through religious discourse and political realities in the Middle East and the Balkans, interreligious dialogue and Religious Education (schools) in religious and secular environments and institutions as well as Asian Religions.

She served as the Scientific Coordinator of The European Program “Life long Learning for Christian and Muslim Theologians of Thrace on Issues Related to the Teaching of Religion, Religious Diversity and Intercultural Religious Education” (2014-2015). She has also acted as an expert advisor to the compilation of the new Secondary School Religious Studies Curricula (2014-2015) under the supervision of the Educational Policy Institute.

She is a Member of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies – where she is heading the Sector of Interfaith Relations, as well as a Member of the Supervisory Board of Madrasahs (Thrace), a member of the scientific network on Ibadi Studies in addition to membership in a variety of international Associations and Centres. She was a member of the Greek Delegation to the ΙΗRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance)- Academic Working Group (2017-2021).

She has edited and written several works and articles including: La Recherche Grecque contemporaine et l’ Islam (Strasbourg 2002 / Lille, 2004). Shi’a Islam. Its social and political implications in the Middle East (Thessaloniki, 2004). Between War and Dialogue: Islam in the Byzantine, post-Byzantine and modern Greek literature (Thessaloniki, 2010, reprint 2017). Interreligious Dialogues: The Encounter of Christianity with Islam (Thessaloniki, 2010, reprint 2016). On Ibadism (Hildesheim / New York, 2014). Kalam and Islamic currents of thought (Thessaloniki, 2016). Intercultural Religious Education and Islamic Studies. Challenges and Perspectives in Greece, Europe, USA (Bilingual edition Greek / English, Athens, 2016). Religion and Conflict. Essays on the Origins of Religious Conflicts and Resolution Approaches (London, 2011).

Scientific Publications (pdf)