Thomas Emil Homerin | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1955-05-19)May 19, 1955 |
| Died | December 26, 2020(2020-12-26) (aged 65) |
| Citizenship | American |
| Spouse | |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline |
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Thomas Emil Homerin (19 May 1955 – 26 December 2020) was an American scholar of religion. He was Professor of Religion in the Department of Religion & Classics at theUniversity of Rochester until his death in 2020, where he taught courses onIslam, classicalArabic literature,mysticism, andMt. Hope Cemetery in Rochester.[1][2]
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Thomas Emil Homerin, who generally abbreviated his first name to "Th." for publication, was the son of Floyd and Miriam Homerin, and brother of John A. Homerin. While growing up inPekin, Illinois, Homerin attended Douglas Elementary School, Washington Junior High School, andPekin Community High School. He was a graduate of theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (B.A. '77, M.A. '78), and completed his Ph.D. with honors at theUniversity of Chicago ('87). Homerin married Nora Walter in 1977, and they have two sons, Luke (born 1987), and Elias (born 1991).
A specialist in Arabic literature and Islam, Homerin had lived and worked in Egypt for a number of years. Among his many publications areThe Wine of Love & Life: Ibn al-Fârid's al-Khamrîyah and al-Qaysarî’s Quest for Meaning (Chicago, 2005),From Arab Poet to Muslim Saint (2nd revised edition, Cairo:American University Press, 2001) and his anthology of translations,Ibn al-Fârid: Sufi Verse & Saintly Life (New York, 2001) published as part of the esteemed Paulist Press seriesClassics in Western Spirituality.[1] The last of these books features a cover painting by fellow formerPekiniteMark Staff Brandl, with whom Homerin had also collaborated on many artworks and articles. Homerin also authored several chapters on Islam inThe Religious Foundations of Western Civilization (Abingdon Press, 2006), edited by Jacob Neusner.
Death and the afterlife were a major focus of Homerin's work, and he carried out field work in Cairo's al-Qarafah cemetery. This initiated his interest in American funerary customs and practice which evolved into his courseSpeaking Stones on Mt. Hope Cemetery inRochester, New York.[3] This course examines western funeral ritual and practice, with a particular focus on cemeteries in the United States, and how the iconography and epigraphy of graves and funerary monuments forge symbolic connections among the living and the dead. Homerin and his students published the results of their research inEpitaph, the newsletter of the Friends of Mt. Hope Cemetery.
Homerin was the recipient of grants from the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation, theFulbright Foundation, the American Research Center in Egypt, and theNational Endowment for the Humanities. He also received a number of awards including the American Association of Teachers of Arabic Translation Prize, theGolden Key International Honour Society's recognition for his contributions to undergraduate education, the G. Granyon & Jane W. Curtis Award for Excellence in Nontenured Teaching, the University of Rochester's Teacher of the Year Award, and the Georgen Award for Distinguished Achievement and Artistry in Undergraduate Education.[4]
