James A. Toronto

James A. Toronto is Associate Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Brigham Young University. He received a BA in English at BYU, an MA in Middle Eastern Studies and a PhD in Islamic Studies, both at Harvard University. He served as a missionary in the Italian and Italy South Missions (1970–72) and as president of the Italy Catania Mission (2007–10). He is a great-grandson of Giuseppe Taranto (mentioned in this article) and is currently completing with two colleagues a history of the LDS Church in Italy.