I’m really excited about a new book by Christopher M. Driscoll and Monica R. Miller. They’ve co-written Method as Identity: Manufacturing Distance in the Academic Study of Religion, where they tackle how the study of religion has been constructed as a discipline over time and provide a rigorous critique of…
The best thing about hosting New Books in Islamic Studies for over 5 years has been all the wonderful connections I’ve made through a number of very interesting conversations. One special bonus is that my friend and co-host SherAli Tareen generously had me as a guest to talk about my new book, Interpreting Islam in China: Pilgrimage,…
My book Interpreting Islam in China: Pilgrimage, Scripture, and Language in the Han Kitab is now available for order or preview. Check it out over at OUP Take a look on Google Books…
Shahab Ahmed’s masterful work, What is Islam?: The Importance Of Being Islamic (Princeton University Press, 2016), is a dynamic and complex volume that asks key questions for the study of Islam. It has already won the American Academy of Religion’s Best First Book in the History of Religions award. I had the great pleasure to co-edit a forum on the…
This summer Edinburgh University Press will publish a new edited collection, Islamic Thought in China: Sino-Muslim Intellectual Evolution from the 17th to the 21st Century. I am proud to have a chapter included with this group of amazing international scholars. The volume grew out of a number of panels on Islam in China that occurred over a few…
There has been radio silence here for a while. But dont worry I’ve been keeping busy. If you are interested in listening to any of the podcast I host all the interviews are now collected and updated on my Podcasts page. Please check them out. And if you want to keep up with what I…
Brothers Mohammed Ali Vakil and Mohammed Arif Vakil are the team behind the fabulous graphic novels, collectively known as Sufi Comics. They started off creating short single narrative comics, which they found to reflect the inner dimensions of Qur’anic teachings and the example of the Prophet Muhammad. These early works were eventually collected in 40 Sufi Comics (available…
I just published my first in a new series of reviews for Religion in American History blog on scholarship covering Islam in America. The first book discussed is Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Race and Representation after 9/11 (New York University Press, 2012). I situate the relevance of the book within the context of recent media…
One of the professional projects that most shapes my weekly activities is hosting two channels on the New Books Network. This is also one of the pursuits that I most enjoy as an academic. Check them out New Books in Religion and New Books in Islamic Studies The idea is simple. Author writes a book, we talk about it.…
Dr. Kristian Petersen 