Jordan Denari Duffner, PhD is a Catholic theologian, author, and professor whose work centers on Muslim-Christian relations, interreligious dialogue, Islamophobia, and Israel-Palestine.
Dr. Duffner holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Theological and Religious Studies from Georgetown University, where she also completed her bachelor’s degree in international affairs. She is currently a Scholar in Residence at the Shoulder to Shoulder Campaign, as well as she is a member of the Catholic Advisory Council of Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), which advocates for justice for all in Israel-Palestine. Formerly a Fulbright scholar in Amman, Jordan and a research fellow at Georgetown’s Bridge Initiative, she is also a Research Associate of the Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies and a member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ National Catholic-Muslim Dialogue. Her award-winning books are Finding Jesus among Muslims (2017) and Islamophobia: What Christians Should Know (and Do) about Anti-Muslim Discrimination (2021). She lives with her husband and two young children outside Washington, D.C. She writes on dialogue, spirituality, and more at Digging Our Well, a publication on Substack.
God’s appearance to us, whether to the Magi in first century Palestine or today wherever we are, often doesn’t take away our suffering. But it reminds us that God is present to us precisely amid that hardship.VIEW
Contrary to the notions of my Catholic school upbringing, I no longer envision Jesus’ kingdom as a place inhabited only by Christians. Instead, it’s populated by many of my Muslim friends and so many others—whether religious or not—whose lives contribute to the gradual building of a more compassionate, more just world.VIEW
