Kenneth Scott Latourette began his career in 1909 as a traveling secretary for the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions. The following year he joined the faculty of Yale in China's Yali School at Changsha in Hunan Province. Forced to return to the United States because of health issues, he worked on the faculties of Reed College, Denison University, and finally, in 1921, Yale Divinity School, where he taught until 1953.

Over the years, Latourette served as president of the American Historical Association, the Association for Asian Studies, the American Baptist Convention, the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, and the Japan International Christian University Foundation. He also served in various positions in the American Baptist Missionary Union, the International Board of the Y.M.C.A., the United Board for Christian Colleges in China, and the World Council of Churches.

A prolific writer, he authored more 80 books on Christianity, Oriental history and customs, and other subjects. He is best known for his massive seven-volume set entitled A History of the Expansion of Christianity.