A Global Church Divided?
The Atlantic ran an article on the challenge of being a global church. In an interview with CGCM Director, Dana Robert, the magazine explored the complexity of holding together a diverse body with an essentially democratic polity. Currently, the United Methodist Church is struggling with the question of whether gay and lesbian people can be ordained in the church, and […]
Building Bridges
At the United Methodist General Conference, Glen Messer–the first faculty associate of the CGCM, and now an executive in the Office of Christian Unity and Interreligious Relationships–announced that the UMC was forming two new ecumenical relationships. One was with the Moravian Church and the other with the Uniting Church in Sweden.
Perfecting Unity
In his new book, Perfecting Unity, Glen Alton Messer II–the first faculty associate of the Center for Global Christianity & Mission–aids Christ’s disciples in discernment in the midst of this present moment of time; in our world and context. The book is also written for those who wish to understand Christians and the things with which they […]
Call for Papers: Protest, Public Religion, & Social Change
Boston University Graduate Conference on Religious Studies 2016
Buddhist Monks, Christian Friars, and the Making of Buddhism
In her recent article, “Buddhist Monks and Christian Friars: Religious and Cultural Exchange in the Making of Buddhism,” Eva Pascal (PhD Candidate) demonstrated that the idea of Buddhism as a common religion across much of Asia, did not emerge in the 19th century as has been widely assumed. Instead, it was Spanish Franciscan Friars in the 16th century who, […]
African Pentecostalism
Allan Anderson, one of the foremost scholars on Pentecostalism, delivered a lecture at the Boston University School of Theology on April 14th: “Pentecostalism and the African Spirit World: Continuity or Discontinuity?” In the lecture, Professor Anderson, explored the complex relationship between African Traditional Religions and Pentecostalism, highlighting how–often at the same time–Pentecostalism is both a […]
Reassessing Chinese Christianity through John Sung
At the 75th annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, CGCM Associate Director, Daryl Ireland participated in a panel on “Chinese Christianity Revisited: The John Sung Papers and Chinese Evangelistic Materials.” The panel was organized by the Council on East Asian Libraries, and highlighted Yale Divinity School’s recent acquisition of the journals of John Sung, […]
Missions and the Local Church
On April 2, Laura Chevalier, Doctoral Fellow at the CGCM, presented a paper at the Northeast meeting of the Evangelical Missiological Society (EMS) in Flushing, NY. In her paper entitled “Midwives and Mamas of the Local Church: Historical Case Studies of Women in Mission,” Chevalier looked at the life writing of two twentieth century evangelical […]
Vincent Machozi Memorial Services
On April 26th, life and death of Father Vincent Machozi, A.A. was remembered during a memorial service to be held in the Boston University Marsh Chapel. The service began at 2:00 pm, and included various people from the communities Father Machozi overlapped with in Boston, such as the School of Theology, African Studies, the Assumptionists, Congolese immigrants, […]
Mission and Friendship
On March 30th, Dana Robert delivered the annual Donald A. Yerxa Lecture in History at Eastern Nazarene College. She probed the role of “Cross-Cultural Christian Friendships in the Age of Nationalist Revolution, 1950s-1970s,” asserting that these close connections were costly in the midst of shifting political arrangements, but that they were important reminders that Christianity was a […]