Bartolomé de las Casas
For scholars of world Christianity, Bartolomé de las Casas is a fascinating figure. A missionary to the New World, he struggled to express a theology that could address the extraordinary conditions that colonial expansion and colonization created. In Bartolome de las Casas, O.P.: History, Philosophy, and Theology in the Age of European Expansion, prominent scholars from […]
Pedagogical Dilemmas in the Global Church
After publishing an article about power and privilege in relation to colonial subsidies and the education of missionary children in the Belgian Congo, Anicka Fast received feedback from people around the world. Their comments spurred her to explain her larger project, and the aims of her research. She also reflects on the complexity of writing […]
Ambivalent about Mission?
The Council of International Anabaptist Ministries held a symposium on “The mission of God and global partnerships.” Anicka Fast shared ideas about “Reclaiming Mission,” for those ambivalent about the very idea.
Anabaptists in Nigeria
In 1958 a group of congregations in southeastern Nigeria solicited affiliation with the North American Mennonite Board of Missions (MBM), declared themselves Mennonite, and sought missionaries and assistance. MBM responded by sending missionaries and by providing assistance to Mennonite Church Nigeria (MCN) and others in the region. The collaboration between MCN and MBM developed during […]
Mission and Transformation in Burundi
Daewon Moon (PhD ’18) and Joenghwa Park spent an afternoon at Boston University, describing their work in holistic mission in Burundi. Together they showcased how churches, schools, and global connections interact to create a healthy and vibrant community.
African Initiative and Inspiration in the East African Revival, 1930-1950
In the 1930s and 1940s, African revivalists in colonial Ugandan and Ruanda-Urundi appropriated Christian beliefs and practices to forge a distinctively African Christian spirituality that precipitated the moral and spiritual transformation of many people in East Africa. Daewon Moon, in his successfully defended dissertation, demonstrated that African revivalists had the support and sympathy of evangelical-minded […]
Lay and Ecclesiastical Travelers from Europe to China in the Long 18th Century
In Illusion and Disillusionment: Travel Writing in the Modern Age, Eugenio Menegon opens the edited volume with a chapter on “Desire, Truth, and Propaganda: Lay and Ecclesiastical Travelers from Europe to China in the Long Eighteenth Century.” The introduction explains: “The letters written by this early modern eighteenth century traveler, the Italian Serafino da San Giovanni […]
Life and Death in the Missions of New France and East Asia
Narratives of Faith and Martyrdom October 18-21, 2018 Midland, Ontario Canada Symposium Programme_Final Draft_8OCTOBER
Colonialism, Christianity, and Personhood in Africa
“Africans labor under the weight of a crisis of personhood, self-identity, and a split self that is a legacy of Christianity and colonialism,” Nimi Wariboko argues. In his recent publication, “Colonialism, Christianity and Personhood,” which appears in the Blackwell Companion to African History, edited by William H. Worger, Charles Ambler and Nwando Achebe, Wariboko explores the dual nature […]
The Role of Missionaries in the Inception of Transnational Adoption, 1949-1960.
Soojin Chung successfully defended her dissertation on “The Role of Missionaries in the Inception of Transnational Adoption, 1949-1960.”