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Christian perspectives on Islam are examined through the lens of symbolic confrontation as Christians and Muslims compete to define their roles in Kenyan society and to redefine the Kenyan nation itself. Bourdieu´s social theory informs the analysis of the writings of both Kenyan scholars and popular Kenyan Christian magazines as they write about Islam and Muslims in Kenya. A careful analysis demonstrates both important differences between the popular and scholarly approaches to Islam, while also showing a significant underlying similarity between the approaches. Scholars tend to evaluate Islam in Kenya more positively than the popular literature, but both types of literature use similar evaluative criteria: which is, how does Islam in Kenya contribute to the formation of healthy community?

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Dr. Michael Brislen taught in Eastern Africa for 20 years in the nations of Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya. He received his PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Birmingham (UK) in 2015. He is currently an adjunct professor of religion at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

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