Rate My Professor Jesper Petersen

Jesper Petersen is Associate Professor in the Section of Biblical Exegesis at the Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen. He earned his PhD in History of Religions with a specialisation in Islamic Studies from Lund University and holds a Dr.phil. degree. His research adopts an anthropological approach centered on Muslims' faith and practices, primarily derived from fieldwork. Core research interests encompass Islamic feminism, LGBTQ-Islam intersections, Danish Muslims' sharia practices, and the production and consumption of non-Muslim interpretations of Islam. Petersen contributes to key initiatives at the Faculty of Theology, including the Centre for the Study of Religion in Society, Culture and Law (SCALA), where he leads the Non-Muslim Islam area, and the Producing Sharia in Context project, examining Islamic divorce practices in Denmark.

Petersen is Principal Investigator and research leader of the Non-Muslim Islams project (2024-2028), supported by a Sapere Aude grant from the Independent Research Fund Denmark. He co-edited the volume The Production and Consumption of Non-Muslim Islams (Edinburgh University Press, 2025) with Anders Ackfeldt, featuring 11 case studies on non-Muslim shaped Islams, and contributed the introductory chapter 'Introducing Non-Muslim Islam to Islamic Studies'. Other significant outputs include the co-authored report 'Afdækning af tvang ved indgåelse af religiøst ægteskab - med særligt fokus på muslimske praksisser' (2025), the evaluation report 'Evaluering af Til Døden Os Skiller' (2025), expert statement 'Sagkyndigudtalelse om katb al-kitab og nikah' (2025), and recent articles such as 'Infiltrationsnarrativen: Casestudie af Florence Bergeaud-Blacklers bog Broderismen' in Scandinavian Journal of Islamic Studies (2026) and a review of Re-inventing Islam in Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations (2026). He has also published opinion pieces in Berlingske Tidende ('Svar fra Jesper Petersen', 2026) and Jyllands-Posten ('Søstre mod Vold og Kontrol har fået min disputats galt i halsen', 2026). With 82 research outputs, Petersen's scholarship illuminates contemporary Islamic dynamics in Denmark and scholarly discourses on Islam.