October 17, 2018

Dr. Charles Kimball is Presidential Professor and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK. Between 1996 and 2008, he served as Chair of the Department of Religion (1996-2004) and professor of comparative religion in the Department of Religion and the Divinity School at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. An ordained Baptist minister, he received his doctorate from Harvard University in Comparative Religion with specialization in Islamic studies.

Dr. Kimball’s courses at OU include “Introduction to Religious Studies,” “Comparative Religion,” “World Religions in America,” “Conceptions of the Afterlife,” “Religion and Politics in the Middle East,” and “Islam.” He is a frequent lecturer in universities and church-related settings as well as an expert analyst on the Middle East, Islam, Jewish-Christian-Muslim relations, and the intersection of religion and politics in the U.S. He has been interviewed more than 1500 times for national and local TV, radio, and print media.

From 1983-1990 he was the Director of the Middle East Office at the National Council of Churches. Over the past 40 years, Kimball has made more than 35 visits to the Middle East and worked closely with Congress, the White House and the State Department during the past 30 years. In 1984, he founded Churches for Middle East Peace, which continues today with 35 member denominations and religious orders.

His articles have appeared in a number of publications, including Sojourners, The Christian Century, The Los Angeles Times, The Christian Science Monitor, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Boston Globe. He is the author of five books, including When Religion Becomes Lethal: The Explosive Mix of Politics and Religion in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2011). His previous book, When Religion Becomes Evil: Five Warning Signs (HarperOne, rev. ed. 2008),was named one of the “Top 15 Books on Religion” by Publishers Weekly and one of the top ten books of the year by the Association of Parish Clergy. Kimball is working currently on two books: “Truth over Fear: The Future of Christian-Muslim Relations” and “World Religions in the 21st Century”.