Kenneth Honerkamp

KENNETH LEE HONERKAMP,  a graduate of the Quarawiyyine University of Morocco and the University of Aix-en-Provence, France, and the University of Georgia, has worked extensively in the manuscript libraries of Morocco. His research interests lie in the fields of teacher/disciple relationships in formative Sufism, the shared spiritual heritage of Islamic Spain and Morocco and the study and translation of letters of spiritual guidance written by Moroccan Sufi teachers. He has edited and translated numerous previously unpublished works of Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami (d. 412/1021). His critical edition of the Rasa’il al-kubra of Ibn Abbad of Ronda (d. 792/1390) was published by Dar al-Machreq, Lebanon in 2005. Since then he has edited two works of Ibn Abbad: Bughiyat al-murīd (a versification of the Ḥikm of Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh) and Khuṭab al-muwāsim (a collection of sermons from 14th cen. Fes). His recent translation of the Book of Knowledge, Book One of Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm ad-dīn by Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (1058-1111) has met with wide spread approval since its publication in 2015. He presently holds the position of Full Professor in the Department of Religion at the University of Georgia at Athens. 

Dr. Honerkamp’s experience in institutions of higher education in the US and France have afforded him hands on experience in dealing with the difficulties and frustration that so often plague the learner of Arabic as a foreign language. His years of residency in the Muslim world have afforded him an understanding of Islamic faith and practice within the context of day to day life that he is able to communicate to his students. In his courses students come to appreciate the multi-faceted Islamic culture as a living tradition. He has brought his years of hosting and lecturing to international programs abroad in Morocco to the Department of Religon’s Maymester in Morocco Program. This accredited program takes 18 students from UGA on a month long journey of discovery from the royal cities of Marrakesh, Fes and Rabat to the High Atlas Mountains and the Sahara Desert.