Alumni
The Reverend Jack Amick (STH ’06) and UMCOR’s Global Migration Program
The Reverend Jack Amick, STH alumn, is featured in a recent article announcing $10 million in grants for the work of Global Ministries and UMCOR.
The director of UMCOR's Global Migration Program, Rev. Jack Amick ('06), describes its primary goal to "support the church in its efforts to provide welcome to refugees and migrants of all types, regardless of where they are on the migration journey."
For more information about the grant announcements, to learn more about Global Ministries, UMCOR, and Rev. Amick, read the article here.
Anicka Fast (’20), Bruce Yoder (’16) and Unlikely Friends Mentioned by the Mennonite Mission Network
The Mennonite Mission Network's recent blog post mentions Anicka Fast ('20) and Bruce Yoder ('16), STH Alumni and former advisees of Dr. Dana Robert. Fast's research and Yoder's participation with the Congolese church and Mennonite mission are noted.
Through the post, blog author, Linda Hollinger-Janzen, reflects on Anicka's dissertation research, her current assignment in Burkina-Faso teaching African church history, and her chapter in Dana Robert's Festschrift, Unlikely Friends.
Hollinger-Janzen's reflections offer insight into historical Mennonite mission relationships in French-speaking Africa and present-day applications of friendship in mission through the lives of two STH alumni.
Read the blog post, "Expatriate women and house workers helped dismantle Mennonite segregation in Congo" by Linda Hollinger-Janzen, here.
“A Rite for All Souls” 50th-Anniversary Commemoration
The Boston Globe has featured Mark Harvey (STH '71, GRS '83), Peter Bloom (CAS '71), and the music of the Mark Harvey Group in an article published on Oct.25, 2021. See the Boston Globe article here.
Harvey, a School of Theology alumnus, is known for his work as the director of the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra and his work on jazz as sacred music.
His ministry through music is another example of the Boston University School of Theology's rich heritage in global hymnody and sacred music. For more information on the upcoming BU STH Hymnody Mini-Conference, see this news item.
To attend the free virtual event, "A Rite for All Souls" 50th-anniversary commemoration, held on Oct. 28, 7 p.m., register at www.eventbrite.com/e/50th-anniversary-of-a-rite-for-all-souls-zoom-conversation-and-video-tickets-187825500127
Sung-Deuk Oak to Speak about Majority World Responses to Healing & Mission
Sung-Deuk Oak Speaking on Healing & Mission
Dr. Sung-Deuk Oak ('02), Associate Professor of Korean Christianity and the holder of the Dongsoon Im and Mija Im Endowed Chair at UCLA, will speak on a panel discussing the Majority World's response to Healing and Mission at Fuller Seminary's Annual Mission Conference.
Dr. Oak will be speaking on October 28th from 12:30-2pm, in Session 4.
For more information and to register, visit the Fuller Mission Conference Webpage.
Announcing the Endowment of the Center for Global Christianity and Mission
The 20th Anniversary of the CGCM
On October 1st, Boston University announced the endowment of the Center for Global Christianity and Mission. The milestone was revealed on the 20th anniversary of the Center's founding. Opened in 2001 under the leadership of Dana L. Robert and Inus Daneel, the CGCM was the first Center of its kind in a research university in North America.
Since its inception, the Center has expanded rapidly. It launched Boston University’s first digital humanities project, and has remained at the forefront of digital scholarship. Today, the Center and its various online research platforms receive more than one million visits each year. However, the CGCM is more than an online community. It is the crossroads where students, scholars, and mission practitioners intersect. It provides numerous lectures and events that bring the reality of World Christianity home to students at Boston University. In fact, the Center sponsors some kind of event for the public approximately every other week.
The Center remains a cauldron of creativity. With fourteen affiliated faculty and ten Visiting Researchers, new ventures regularly bubble up. Currently, Dana Robert is spearheading a massive research project on “Mission and Collaboration in North America.” The Center has also recently launched projects on Global Congregational Song, the Sanctuary Movement in North and Central America, African Pentecostal Films, Mapping Christianity in China, and the Young Ecumenical Movement. When the world is your area of study, the possibilities are endless.
The Center passed the minimum threshold for an endowment, but it seeks to strengthen its financial foundation. The CGCM receives no funding from the university, but relies on the support and generosity of its community. To make a contribution to support the Center for the next twenty years, you can make a tax-deductible donation here.
Ruth Padilla DeBorst (’16) on the Legacy of John Stott
Dr. Ruth Padilla DeBorst ('16) was recently featured in a podcast series with Langham Partnership on the legacy of John Stott. Listen to her interview with Mark Meynell here!
Dr. Padilla DeBorst, a longtime leader with IFES and the Fraternidad Teológica Latinoamericana, is currently on the leadership board at the Comunidad de Estudios Teológicos Interdisciplinarios (CETI) and serves with the International Fellowship for Mission as Transformation (INFEMIT).
Alex Mayfield to Present on China Historical Christian Database
Dr. Alex Mayfield ('21), Principal Investigator with the China Historical Christian Database, will give a public presentation about the database at "Historical Network Research in Chinese Studies," an event hosted by the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University. Dr. Mayfield will present on Friday, July 30, at 10am EST. Registration is free but required. Learn more here!
Gina Zurlo Named Distinguished BUSTH Alumna
Congratulations to Dr. Gina Zurlo, who was recently named one of the 2021 Distinguished Alums of the BU School of Theology, in the category of Emerging Leader. Dr. Zurlo is recognized for her pioneering research in global religious demography and women in world Christianity. Read more about Dr. Zurlo and the other Distinguished Alums here!
Summer 2021 Work from Current Students & Recent Alumni
Several of the current graduate students and recent alumni affiliated with the CGCM are doing exciting academic work during the summer of 2021. Check out some of the titles of their exciting new work below!
(Additional titles will be added as the summer goes on.)
Alex Mayfield ('21, Project Director, China Historical Christian Database):
- "Arrows Flying to the Five Continents: Hong Kong and the Structures of Pentecostal Print Culture, 1907-1942," Yale-Edinburgh Annual Meeting, June 2021.
- "A Pentecostal Prisoner of War: Resistance and Obedience in Occupied Shanghai," Annual Meeting of the Association of Professors of Mission, June 2021.
- “The China Historical Christian Database,” Network Research in Chinese Studies, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University, July 2021.
Anicka Fast ('20)
- "Catholicity, Memory, and the Missionary Encounter: Toward an Ecclesiological Framework for World Christian History," American Society of Missiology Annual Meeting, June 2021.
- Article: “Understanding Religion and Politics in Africa: A Call for the Re-Enchantment of the Scholarly Imagination,” Journal of Religion in Africa 49 (2019): 145-161.
Tyler Lenocker ('20)
- "Urban Mission in Post-War Boston and (re-)Organizing Evangelical Community," American Society of Missiology Annual Meeting, June 2021.
- Panelist for “World Christian Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition,"American Society of Missiology Annual Meeting, June 2021.
Laura Chevalier ('20)
- “Tracing the Missional Lineage of Holiness and Early Pentecostal Homes for Children,” Missiology Seminar, Asbury Theological Seminary, Lexington, KY (online), March 2021.
- Dissertation presentation as a part of a panel on “Recent Holiness Dissertations,” Wesleyan Historical Society Meeting (Online), March 2021. (Dissertation title: “Becoming ‘Children of God’: The Child in Holiness and Pentecostal Mission Discourse and the Making of Global Evangelical Movements, 1897-1929")
- Serving as co-editor for the forthcoming Dictionary of Pentecostal Mission (T&T Clark) with Jerry Ireland, Robert Gallagher, and Paul Lewis.
Younghwa Kim ('16)
- "The Korean Church and American Missionaries after the Korean War," American Society of Missiology Annual Meeting, June 2021.
- “Among Dissenters and Friends: The Doukhobor Migration to Canada of 1898 and the Persecution Narrative that Propelled It," Annual Meeting of the Association of Professors of Mission, June 2021.
- “The Written Word that Relocated an Oral Culture: Print Media and Its Role in the Doukhobor Migration of 1898," prerecorded presentation at the Yale-Edinburgh Annual Meeting, June 2021.
Christopher Ney (PhD candidate):
- "UCC and Pentecostal Church of Chile," Yale-Edinburgh Annual Meeting, June 2021.
Morgan Crago (PhD student):
- “Protestant Missionaries in a Catholic Country: Baptism for Protestant Converts in the 19th Century Evangelical Missions to Brazil," Fourth Annual Florovsky-Newman Week, Eighth Day Institute, Wichita, KS, June 2021.
Other less-recent graduates have also been active in presenting at missiological societies this summer!
David W. Scott ('13, CGCM Visiting Researcher)
- "Mission and Migration, the Twin Antagonists of Geographically Based Church Structures," American Society of Missiology Annual Meeting, June 2021.
Titus Pressler ('95)
- "Irrepressible Vision: Pakistani Christians’ Mission amid Persecution," Annual Meeting of the Association of Professors of Mission, June 2021.
Festschrift Honors Alumnus Rev. Dr. Heigo Ritsbek
A new festschrift, Scripta Amicis (Tallinn, 2021), with essays in Estonian and English, honors the life and work of Rev. Dr. Heigo Ritsbek, Patriarch of the Anglocatholic Church. Dr. Ritsbek studied under Prof. Dana Robert at the Boston University School of Theology, graduating in 1996 with a DMin. Dr. Ritsbek's autobiography, Tagasivaade (2020), is also available. Throughout his life, he has ministered in many countries around the world, including Estonia, Germany, United States, Austria, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Latvia, the Ukraine, South Africa, Uganda, France, Canada, Finland, Russia, Georgia, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Denmark, Lithuania, and Italy.