Dr. Lucas is an associate professor of Islamic Studies. His research explores the creative process by which Sunni and Zaydi scholars composed works in the genres of law, hadith, and Qur’anic commentary during the classical period of Islamic civilization. He recently published a two-volume, unabridged translation of thirty passages from al-Tabari’s Qur’an commentary, titled Selections from the Comprehensive Exposition of the Interpretation of the Verses of the Qur'an. Dr. Lucas was a member of the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton during Fall 2018 and received an ACLS Fellowship to pursue research on the relationship between the Qur'an and Islamic Law during the 2018-19 academic year.  He currently is working on multiple book and article projects related to Zaydi law and theology in Yemen.