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, a Research Associate of the Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies Oxford, and a member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ National Catholic-Muslim Dialogue. Formerly a Fulbright scholar in Amman, Jordan and a research fellow at Georgetown’s Bridge Initiative, 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. Her award-winning books are Finding Jesus among Muslims (2017) and Islamophobia: What Christians Should Know (and Do) about Anti-Muslim Discrimination (2021). She writes on dialogue, spirituality, and more atDigging Our Well, a publication on Substack.
Committed to public theology, religious literacy, and interfaith solidarity, Dr. Duffner has published dozens of articles and essays in both academic and lay publications. In 2016, she penned the Bridge Initiative report, “Danger and Dialogue: American Catholic Perceptions and Portrayals of Islam,” which included the first nationwide survey of Catholics’ views of Islam. Her book chapters can be found in Overcoming Orientalism (2021) and A Pope Francis Lexicon (2018).
Dedicated to education both inside and outside the classroom, Dr. Duffner teaches university courses in the Washington, D.C. area, including “Introduction to Islam” / “Islamic Religious Thought and Practice” at Georgetown. In Fall 2025, she is the Khatib Scholar at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, where she is offering a new course entitled “Jesus and Muhammad, the Bible and Qur’an.” She has given dozens of lectures and webinars on to diverse audiences around the world, and has experience both facilitating and participating in interreligious dialogue. She serves as a frequent media commentator and consultant, having appeared as an analyst on news programs, television and radio interview shows, and documentaries.
Dr. Duffner has previously worked as a Research Fellow for the Bridge Initiative, a Georgetown University research project on Islamophobia housed in the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. She has also contributed to the work of the Shoulder to Shoulder Campaign, including a resource on understanding and addressing bigotry in the wake of the surge of violence in Israel-Palestine.
Dr. Duffner was named a recipient of the Moira O’Donnell Emerging Leader for Justice Award by the Ignatian Solidarity Network in 2024.
Dr. Duffner’s writing has received wide acclaim and received numerous awards. Her first book, Finding Jesus among Muslims, won Second Place in the ‘General Interest’ category of the 2018 “Excellence in Publishing Awards” held by the Association of Catholic Publishers. Islamophobia, her second book, won Third Place in the ‘Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations’ category of the 2022 Catholic Media Association Awards. Her 2016 piece on Islamophobia in Living City won a joint 2017 Catholic Press Association First Place Award for best interfaith and ecumenical coverage.
Her doctoral dissertation is titled, Muḥammad’s Character as “Fruit of the Spirit”: Catholic Pneumatology and Portrayals of Islam’s Prophet.
Prior to her doctorate, Dr. Duffner obtained a Master’s degree in theological and religious studies and a bachelor’s degree in international affairs from Georgetown’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. Awarded a Fulbright research grant in a 2013-2014, she studied the impact of the media on Muslim-Christian relations in Amman, Jordan. She lives in the Washington, DC area with her husband and young children.
If you would like to contact Dr. Duffner regarding interviews, speaking engagements, consulting, or other matters, please use the contact form on this website.
(The views and opinions expressed here are solely my own, and do not necessarily reflect the official policy, positions, or mission of Georgetown University, the Bridge Initiative, National Catholic-Muslim Dialogue, Churches for Middle East Peace, or the Fulbright program.)
JORDAN DENARI DUFFNER 