Kristian Petersen is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Religion at Gustavus Adolphus College. His research interests include Theory and Methodology in the Study of Religion, Critical Islamic Thought, Muslims in the West, Literary and Institutional Sufism, Chinese Religions, Human Rights, Media Studies and Comparative Religions. He specializes on the development of Islam in China and Sino-Islamic intellectual history. His publications can be found in Journal of Sufi Studies, Philosophy East and West, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, Journal of Oriental and African Studies, and Religious Studies Review. He is the host of New Books in Religion and New Books in Islamic Studies and steering committee member for the Contemporary Islam Group at the American Academy of Religion.