Dr. Sami Helewa, SJ
President & Associate Professor of Religious Studies
BSc (Toronto), MDiv (Regis, Toronto), STL, ThM (Cambridge, MA), MA (Toronto), PhD (Edinburgh)
sami.helewa@uregina.ca
Phone: 306.359.1212 | Fax: 306.359.1200 | Office: CM 306
Short Bio
Sami Helewa, S.J., was born and raised in Lebanon where he completed his first studies. He came to Canada in 1981 and enjoyed a career in the financial sector after he completed his undergraduate studies (BSc 1986) at the University of Toronto, and also became an editor to G-7 Report in international economics. After he completed his MDivinity at Regis College (University of Toronto) he entered the Society of Jesus in 1998. Since then, he completed Special studies in Philosophy (2002) at University of Toronto, M. Theology and STL (Weston Jesuit School of Theology, Cambridge MA, 2006), MA in religious studies at University of Toronto (2008) and a PhD in Islamic studies (University of Edinburgh, 2012). While in Jesuit formation, Dr. Helewa served as an assistant chaplain at Campion between 2002 and 2004. In 2013, he started teaching at Campion full time in the capacity of assistant professor in religious studies and served as director of Catholic studies (until June 2019). In 2018, he became an associate professor and president of Campion College.
Research Interests
- Political themes in religious texts
- Narrative Quranic exegeses
- Judaic and Christian sources in Islamic writing
Representative Publications
- Models of Leadership in the Adab Narratives of Joseph, David, and Solomon: Lament for the Sacred. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2018.
- Book Review on Khaleel Mohammad’s David in the Muslim Tradition: The Bathsheba Affair, in Review of Quranic Research, August 2019.
