AKM Shamsur Rahman Shamsur

"From Dr John Hedley Brooke Andreas Idreos Professor Emeritus of Science & Religion, Oxford University. I was the supervisor of a research project that Dr Rahman pursued during his time in Oxford, when he was granted a Visiting Fellowship at Harris Manchester College. I have known him for about twelve years. His main research topic in Oxford was the contributions of Muslim philosophers to the development science in the medieval period. My role, as a historian of science, was to help him develop critical skills as he navigated himself through a channel of scholarship that was new to him. In two respects he began to achieve higher standards of work. First he began to compare the contributions of Muslim and Christian thinkers to the rise of modern science. Secondly, he began a focussed exploration of the origins of experimental methods in science. His skill as a trained philosopher enabled him to study the significance of language and its translation from one culture to another. This was important work on a demanding project because he aimed to discover how key ideas from Muslim scientists influenced western scientists and theologians. Dr Rahman is an enterprising scholar, who has held senior positions in the universities where he has taught. The work he did with me was productive and led to collaboration with Professor Gerald Grudzen, with whom he wrote a book on the place of science in the Islamic and Christian traditions published in 2007/8. He has accumulated valuable teaching experience in the three universities at which he has taught since 2008. He has also had much experience in designing philosophy courses at undergraduate and graduate levels. He is a serious scholar who has a new book, an Introduction to Values and Ethics, due for publication in 2016. I am pleased to recommend him. 14 April 2015"

"Doctor Shamsur and I have collaborated on a Templeton Science and Religion research project and book entitled: Spirituality and Science: Greek, Judeo-Christian and Isamic Perspectives. We also developed a major Relgion and Science conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2008. Gerald Grudzen, PhD"