Faculty

Andrew Sorber

Assistant Professor of Humanities and History; History Program Coordinator

Professor Andrew Sorber

“The past is a strange place that appears to us as both intimately familiar and excessively foreign. Studying the past helps us understand the world in which we live and the true impact of our decisions and action. I love teaching about the ancient and medieval worlds because I know that a deeper understanding of the languages, literatures, histories, and cultures of these peoples will enrich students’ lives and enable them to make a greater impact on the world around them. That is my goal in all aspects of teaching and advising.”

Education

  • Ph.D. in History, University of Virginia, 2019
  • M.A. in Medieval History, University of Virginia, 2015
  • M.Phil “with distinction” in Medieval History, University of Cambridge, 2012
  • B.A. in History, Brigham Young University, 2011

Courses

  • Core: Western Civilization I, History and Culture of Classical Islam, Latin I-IV
  • History Major: Historical Methods, Senior Paper, Early Christianities, Medieval Christianities, Themes in World History

Teaching Positions & Professional Experience

  • Joined the Southern Virginia University faculty in 2019
  • Taught in the Department of Religion and Culture at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2018–19
  • Visiting Researcher at the Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna, Austria, 2017

Scholarship & Creative Work

  • Prophecy and Politics in the Early Carolingian World, Routledge, 2024
  • “The Indiculus luminosus and the Creation of a Ninth-Century Prophetic Conflict Between Christianity and Islam,” in N. Carpentieri, C. Symes (eds.), Medieval Sicily, al-Andalus, and the Maghrib: Writing in Times of Turmoil, Leeds, pp. 17-38., 2019
  • “Prophetic Resistance to Islam in Ninth-Century Córdoba: Paulus Alvarus and the Indiculus luminosus,” Medieval Encounters 25, pp. 433-456., 2019
  • Presented research at the European Academy of Religion, Muenster, Germany, 2021; International Medieval Conference, Leeds, U.K., 2018; Sicily, al-Andalus and the Maghreb: Writing in Times of Turmoil, Universitat Autònoma Barcelona, Spain, 2017; at the 13th Annual Jefferson Fellows Symposium, Charlottesville, Va., 2014; and at Texts and Identities in the Early Middle Ages, Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge, 2011

Awards, Leadership & Service

  • Quinn Dissertation Completion Fellowship, Corcoran Department of History, University of Virginia, 2018–19
  • A. Macdonald Caputo Jefferson Fellowship, Jefferson Scholars Foundation, 2013–18
  • Research Grant, “Dissecting Cultural Pluralism Lab: Religion and Society in the Ancient and Medieval Mediterranean, Institute of the Humanities and Global Cultures,” 2018
  • Associate Editor – Humanities, “Jefferson Journal of Science and Culture: Ethics and Development,” Issue 4