Charles Kimball

Dr. Charles Kimball is professor of comparative religion in the Department of Religion and the Divinity School at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. During the 2006 fall term, he was the Rita and William Bell Visiting Professor at The University of Tulsa. Dr. Kimball is a graduate of Oklahoma State University and holds the M.Div. degree from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. An ordained Baptist minister, he received his Th.D. from Harvard University in the comparative religion with specialization in Islamic studies.

Dr. Kimball's courses at Wake Forest include "Introduction to Religion," "Religions of the World," "Conceptions of the Afterlife," and "Islam." He is a frequent lecturer in universities and church-related settings as well as an expert analyst on issues related to the Middle East, Islam, Jewish-Christian-Muslim relations, and the intersection of religion and politics in the United States.

Before joining the Wake Forest faculty in 1996, Dr. Kimball taught for six years at Furman University where he also served as the Director for International Education. From 1983-1990 he was the Director of the Middle East Office at the National Council of Churches, based in New York. He 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 20 years.

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 four books, including When Religion Becomes Evil (HarperSanFrancisco, 2002). When Religion Becomes Evil was named one of the "Top 15 Books on Religion for 2002" by Publishers Weekly and one of the top ten books of the year by the Association of Parish Clergy. It has been published in Swedish, Indonesian, Korean and Danish translations. His three other books are: Striving Together: A Way Forward in Christian-Muslim Relations (Orbis Books), Religion, Politics and Oil: The Volatile Mix in the Middle East (Abingdon Press), and Angle of Vision: Christians and the Middle East (Friendship Press).

Since the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, Dr. Kimball has been interviewed by more than 500 TV and radio stations as well as major newspapers and broadcast outlets throughout the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, France, Sweden, Australia and South Africa.