John Parker Awarded Franciscan History Fellowship
John Parker was recently awarded a dissertation fellowship by the Academy of American Franciscan History. Mr. Parker’s dissertation is tentatively entitled, “Libertas est Bonum Ordinis Superioris Omnium Bonorum: Perfect Obedientia in Epifanio Moirans O.F.M. cap’s Iusta Defensio.” He also has a chapter in the forthcoming, The Dominicans as Participants, Witnesses, and Critics of the Colonization of […]
Human Rights, Nonviolence, and Conflict Transformation
In the summer of 2019, Colombia was a place of significant convergence for people of faith and people of conscience who are concerned about issues of human rights, nonviolence and conflict transformation. In early July, the Baptist Peace Fellowship held an international gathering in the Colombian city of Cali. In late July and early August, […]
Maryknoll 2019
This year’s meeting of the Eastern Fellowship of Professors of Mission held at Maryknoll was attended by 57 people from a total of 16 institutions—a record number on both accounts. The theme of “Visualizing Mission” fired the imagination of presenters and participants alike. On Friday, Maryknoll Father Larry Lewis unveiled jewels of “God images” and […]
Missiological Conversations
In October, Anicka Fast published, “Sacred children, white privilege, and mission: the role of historical reflection in moving toward healthier relationships within the global church,” in Missiology: An International Review 47, no. 4 (October 2019): 435-448. The piece was a response to a rebuttal to her 2018 article “Sacred children and colonial subsidies” which also appeared in Missiology. […]
A Disruptive Ecclesial Economy
Anicka Fast has recently published, “Let us “also work with our hands, so that the Lord’s work may be furthered”: A disruptive ecclesial economy at Kafumba, 1922-1943,” in the Mennonite Quarterly Review 93, no. 4 (October 2019): 437-472. She describes how Aaron and Ernestina Janzen, American Mennonite Brethren missionaries, resigned from the Congo Inland Mission […]
Preserving History
“The global church works best when all her parts are engaged in sharing their stories,” said Patrick Obonde, director of missions at the Anabaptist Leadership Education Centre in Kenya. On 17–19 June 2019, historians, pastors and archivists did just that at “Power and Preservation: Enabling Access to the Sources Behind Our Stories,” at Goshen College, […]
Methodist Mission Bicentennial
Last week, the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries, in collaboration with Candler School of Theology of Emory University in Atlanta, hosted a conference on “Answering the Call: Hearing God’s Voice in Methodist Mission Past, Present, and Future.” The conference celebrated Methodism’s mission heritage and looked to the future of Methodist mission. Some of those […]
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.
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 […]