Dr. Matthew Kuiper of the Hope College religion faculty has been appointed to the college’s Evert J. and Hattie E. Blekkink Professorship.
Kuiper joined the Hope faculty in 2021. His scholarship focuses on classical and modern Islam, inter-religious relations and religious propagation. Along with his family, he lived in South Asia for many years, and has traveled throughout the Muslim world. In addition to numerous refereed articles, book chapters and other writings, his publications include the books “Da‘wa and Other Religions: Indian Muslims and the Modern Resurgence of Global Islamic Activism” (Routledge, 2017) and “Da‘wa: A Global History of Islamic Missionary Thought and Practice” (Edinburgh University Press, 2021).
He is a frequent presenter and participant in scholarly societies like the American Academy of Religion, International Qur’anic Studies Association and Middle East Studies Association, and has been the Islamic studies chair with the Midwest Region of the American Academy of Religion since 2017. Most recently (September 2024), Kuiper was invited to Aix-Marseille University in France to present his research and collaborate with the scholars leading the multi-year PredicMO research project. He has received a variety of grants and awards in support of his scholarship, including a research grant from the Center for Islam in the Contemporary World (Shenandoah University, 2019); and the Shaheen Award for Outstanding Ph.D. graduate in Humanities (University of Notre Dame, May 2017).
He is a 1998 graduate of Hope, where he majored in religion, and holds a Master of Divinity degree from Trinity International University (2002). He earned his doctorate, in Islamic studies and world Christianity, from the University of Notre Dame (2016). Before joining Hope’s religion faculty, Kuiper served as a professor of religious studies at Missouri State University.
Kuiper has been married to Laurie (Byington) Kuiper, a 1996 Hope graduate, for 26 years. Together, they have three children, Justin, John and Abigail.
In addition to recognizing faculty members for excellence, the college’s endowed professorships and endowed chairs provide resources to further a faculty member’s scholarship and teaching. The Evert J. and Hattie E. Blekkink Professorship was created in 1979 from the bequest of Victor and Ruth Blekkink in honor of their parents to provide financial support for a member of the faculty who is selected on the basis of a distinguished record as an outstanding teacher, recognized scholarly contributions and significant contributions to the overall mission of the college. The professorship is open to faculty in education and religion, with appointment for a 10-year term.