Ken Chitwood

Ken Chitwood is a religion scholar, newswriter, and analyst. His academic work focuses on religion in the Americas and the study of global Islam, with particular emphasis on Islam and Muslim communities in the Americas (Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico, the Latinx U.S.), translocal religion, intersections of religion & culture, Christian-Muslim relations, global Christianity, Muslim minorities, & ethnographic methods and manifestations of religion-beyond-religion in a global and digital age. Additionally, he has published academic work on Judaism in Latin America and the Caribbean, Afro-American religious traditions, religion and popular culture, and other relevant topics. Chitwood has been reviewing books on Christianity, Islam, religion, anthropology, culture, self-help, and history for several years with Publisher’s Weekly, Reading Religion from the American Academy of Religion, and other scholarly and popular publications. In that time Ken has read and reviewed over 125 books and monographs. Furthermore, he is an award-winning religion, travel, and culture newswriter. His bylines include work with Newsweek, Salon, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, Religion News Service, AFAR Magazine, The Times of India, USA Today, Sojourners Magazine, Sightings from the University of Chicago, Christian Century, The Houston Chronicle, & other publications. Chitwood is also a forward-thinking Lutheran theologian, pastor, & popular speaker who accents ‘glocal’ 21st-century Christianity. As a “theologian without borders,” his interests include Christian-Muslim relations, global theologies, & the contextualization of doctrines & practices across religious boundaries, physical borders, & cultural barriers.