John Esposito (1940 – 2026)
Written and published by the SouleMap editorial team. Published July 16, 2026. This tribute was not created by the family. Are you a family member? Claim this memorial.
In loving memory of John Esposito. Born May 19, 1940. Passed away July 15, 2026.
Their Story
John Louis Esposito was an American academic, professor of Middle Eastern and religious studies, and scholar of Islamic studies at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he served as founding director of the Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim–Christian Understanding. Born in Brooklyn in 1940, Esposito brought his deep Catholic faith and Italian-American heritage to his groundbreaking scholarship on Islam. For nearly twenty years before joining Georgetown in 1993, he taught religious studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts. A prolific author and editor, he published more than fifty books—including the influential Islam: The Straight Path and Islam and Politics—and served as editor-in-chief of major Oxford reference works on Islamic studies. His work earned him the American Academy of Religion's Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion and Pakistan's Quaid-e-Azam Award. Esposito exemplified how deep personal faith could coexist with profound respect for other religious traditions, and his scholarship consistently emphasized that understanding, rather than fear, should shape relations between Muslims and the wider world.
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