Education
Ph.D., Religious Studies: Islamic Studies, University of Virginia, 2011
M.A., Religious Studies: Islamic Studies, University of Virginia, 2010
B.A., Religious Studies, University of Redlands, 1997
Robert Tappan
Chair and Associate Professor
Areas of Expertise
Islamic ethics, theology, and law, with a special emphasis on Shi`i thought
Bioethics
Animal and environmental ethics
Gender and Embodiment in Religion
Biography
Bob Tappan received his PhD from the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia in 2011. His work focuses on Islamic ethics, theology, and law, with a special emphasis on Shi`i thought. Particular areas of ethical interest include bioethics, animal and environmental ethics, and the ethics of war and peace. His publications include 鈥淢ore Than Fatwas: Ethical Decision Making in Iranian Fertility Clinics,鈥� in Islam and Assisted Reproductive Technologies: Sunni and Shia Perspectives (Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2012), and entries on 鈥淎bortion,鈥� 鈥淎IDS,鈥� 鈥淎nimals,鈥� 鈥淒ietary Rules,鈥� 鈥淓thics,鈥� 鈥淔amily Planning,鈥� 鈥淗ealth Care,鈥� and 鈥淢edicine鈥� in the Encyclopedia of Islam in the United States (Westport, CT.: Greenwood Press, 2007). He is currently preparing a manuscript based on his PhD dissertation 鈥淏eyond Clerics and Clinics: Islamic Bioethics and Assisted Reproductive Technology in Iran.鈥� He is also a member of the Science and the Human Person Working Group as part of the Contending Modernities project, based out of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He has lived in or visited numerous Muslim countries, including Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Qatar, Iran, India, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
Professor Tappan teaches a range of courses at Towson in comparative religion, Islamic studies, and religious ethics, including: RLST 203: Introduction to Islam; RLST 206 Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; RLST 305/505: Faith Perspectives in Medical Ethics; RLST 313 Islamic Ethics; RLST 363 Sufism: Islamic Mysticism; and RLST 367: Islam in the Modern Age.
Selected Publications
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鈥淚slamic Bioethics and Animal Research: The Case of Iran,鈥� in Journal of Religious Ethics, 45 (3), September 2017
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鈥淭hird-Party Assisted Reproductive Technologies in Iran: Human Dignity and Gender in Islamic Bioethics,鈥� in Human Personhood in Comparative Perspective (forthcoming)
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鈥淕ender鈥� and 鈥淚nfertility鈥� entries in the Encyclopedia of Islamic Bioethics (Oxford University Press, forthcoming)
- 鈥淢ore Than Fatwas: Ethical Decision Making in Iranian Fertility Clinics,鈥� in Islam and Assisted Reproductive Technologies: Sunni and Shia Perspectives, Berghahn Books, 2012
- "Abortion," "AIDS," "Animals," "Dietary Rules," "Ethics," "Family Planning," "Health Care," "Medicine," in Encyclopedia of Islam in the United States, Greenwood Press, 2007