Lutgendorf received a B.A. degree from the University of Chicago. In 1987, he received a PhD degree with distinction from the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations of the University of Chicago.[4][5] His dissertation was titled "The Life of a Text: Tulsidas' Ramcaritmanas in Performance."[5]
Since 1985, Lutgendorf has taught at the Department of Asian and Slavic Languages and Literature of the University of Iowa.[4] He has developed and taught courses on several subjects including Hindi language and written and oral narrative traditions of South Asia including the Ramcharitmanas, Hindu mythology, Indian literature, Indian theatre, and Indian cinema.[5]
Lutgendorf received the A. K. Coomaraswamy Prize for the book The Life of a Text. In March 2002, he received the Guggenheim Fellowship for research on the Hindu god Hanuman. In 2014, he received the Fulbright-Hays fellowship for research on the cultural history of chai (tea) in India.[1]
Historians Barbara Metcalf and Thomas Metcalf called the website on Hindi films maintained by Lutgendorf "an excellent website on Hindi films."[6] Freek Bakker wrote that Lutgendorf is an "expert in the Indian Ramayana tradition" and has done "profound research into the Ramayana katha tradition."[7]
Dr. Lutgendorf received the Tulsi Award by Pujya Morari Bapu on June 25, 2017, in Estes Park, CO. The Tulsi Award is typically presented on the day of Tulsi Jayanti (the birth date of Goswāmi Tulsidās) and recognises the lineage of those who recite kathas – their efforts to preserve the teachings of the scriptures and maintain the traditions of India.[8]
The Life of a Text: Performing the Ramcaritmanas of Tulsidas, University of California Press. 1991. ISBN978-0520066908.
Ramcaritmanas Word Index/Manas shabda anukramanika (with Winand M. Callewaert), New Delhi: Manohar Publisher & Distributors, New Delhi. 1997. ISBN817304208X.
From the Ramcaritmanas of Tulsidas, Book Five: Sundar Kand, Indian Literature, vol. XLV, no. 3: 143–181.
Hanuman's Tale: The Messages of a Divine Monkey, New York: Oxford University Press. 2006. ISBN9780199885824.
