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Dr Adam DukerPhD, MA(History), MA(History), BA
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Statement of Support
As a professor who has taught at both faith-based and secular universities on three continents, I was excited to learn of Australia's first Protestant research university. There are many excellent options for higher education in Australia. But Australia needs a diversity of intellectual perspectives and educational philosophies in order to advance as a nation and to be a welcoming place for all peoples. For nearly five centuries now, the Protestant tradition has valued the pursuit of education. The Reformation primarily succeeded in university towns and cities with access to printing presses. Martin Luther started his career as a Catholic Reformer and university professor. Recognizing the symbiotic relationship between Christianity and higher education, John Calvin and Theodore Beza established the Academy on Geneva (now the University of Geneva) in 1559. Unity of Truth. From the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, religious leaders recognized that the evangelical commitment to “Scripture alone” required leading educational institutions committed to the unity of truth and willing to ask and answer difficult questions.
It is time for Australia to have a major research university that continues this intellectual tradition. I hope that Christian University for Australia initiative will be a custodian of this tradition. The Christian University for Australia initiative has an important role to play and a bright future as a Bible-believing Protestant university that pursues faith and reason, as well as teaching and research -- in all academic disciplines. The Sunshine Coast is the perfect location for this endeavour. I wish Christian University for Australia the best in forming a world class university.
It is time for Australia to have a major research university that continues this intellectual tradition. I hope that Christian University for Australia initiative will be a custodian of this tradition. The Christian University for Australia initiative has an important role to play and a bright future as a Bible-believing Protestant university that pursues faith and reason, as well as teaching and research -- in all academic disciplines. The Sunshine Coast is the perfect location for this endeavour. I wish Christian University for Australia the best in forming a world class university.
Professional Biography
Dr. Adam Duker is a historian whose work focuses on in Reformation Studies, late medieval and early modern European history, religion and violence, the history of food, and comparative religious studies.
Dr. Duker held the Abdulhadi H. Taher Chair in Comparative Religions at the American University in Cairo, where he was also the Director of AUC’s Religious Studies program and an Assistant Professor of History. The Taher Chair was the largest humanities endowed chair in the Arabic-speaking or Muslim-majority world. As several newspapers, online journals, and television news reports have covered, Dr. Duker was pushed out of AUC in a dispute over whether Tarek Taher, a Saudi billionaire whose father established Dr. Duker's endowed position, should be allowed to interfere with Adam’s teaching and research.
Dr. Duker went on to hold a visiting research associate professor position in the departments of History and Religion at Mount Holyoke College, where he was also employed as a paid consultant to Mount Holyoke’s interfaith initiative. Dr. Duker also served for over three years on the Board of the Harvey Fellows Program, advancing to the position of Vice Chair – where he initiated a major fundraising initiative. Dr. Duker relocated to Australia in May 2020.
Dr. Duker completed his doctorate in History at the University of Notre Dame in 2016. Before that, he earned a Masters degree in History at the University of Notre Dame and a another Masters degree at the University of Arizona’s Division for Late Medieval and Reformation Studies. He earned his BA at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Duker has held a Fulbright Fellowship to Switzerland and was a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Paris-IV, the Sorbonne.
Dr. Duker's doctoral dissertation, completed under the direction of Brad Gregory, was titled “Providence Under Pressure: Israelite Identity and Religious War in Early Modern France, 1550-1575.”
Dr. Duker held the Abdulhadi H. Taher Chair in Comparative Religions at the American University in Cairo, where he was also the Director of AUC’s Religious Studies program and an Assistant Professor of History. The Taher Chair was the largest humanities endowed chair in the Arabic-speaking or Muslim-majority world. As several newspapers, online journals, and television news reports have covered, Dr. Duker was pushed out of AUC in a dispute over whether Tarek Taher, a Saudi billionaire whose father established Dr. Duker's endowed position, should be allowed to interfere with Adam’s teaching and research.
Dr. Duker went on to hold a visiting research associate professor position in the departments of History and Religion at Mount Holyoke College, where he was also employed as a paid consultant to Mount Holyoke’s interfaith initiative. Dr. Duker also served for over three years on the Board of the Harvey Fellows Program, advancing to the position of Vice Chair – where he initiated a major fundraising initiative. Dr. Duker relocated to Australia in May 2020.
Dr. Duker completed his doctorate in History at the University of Notre Dame in 2016. Before that, he earned a Masters degree in History at the University of Notre Dame and a another Masters degree at the University of Arizona’s Division for Late Medieval and Reformation Studies. He earned his BA at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Duker has held a Fulbright Fellowship to Switzerland and was a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Paris-IV, the Sorbonne.
Dr. Duker's doctoral dissertation, completed under the direction of Brad Gregory, was titled “Providence Under Pressure: Israelite Identity and Religious War in Early Modern France, 1550-1575.”
