Doctoral dissertation of Fr. Jason Welle, OFM

On 22 August 2016, Jason Welle, OFM, visiting professor at PISAI, successfully defended his doctoral dissertation at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. His thesis, entitled “Clarifying Companionship: al-Sulamī’s (d. 412/1021) Kitāb ādāb al-ṣuḥba”, analyzes the nature of ṣuḥba in the thought of this medieval Ṣūfī master, with a particular focus on how companionship functions in a believer’s character development and spiritual progress. The dissertation includes as an appendix an English translation of Ādāb al-ṣuḥba (The Ways of Companionship and Good Fellowship), the first scholarly translation of that treatise into a European language. Dr. Paul L. Heck, also a visiting professor at PISAI this fall, advised the dissertation and chaired the defense committee.