News of the extended network of faculty, alumni, students, visiting researchers, and mission partners is regularly updated, and some of the big ideas or major events in Global Christianity are covered in the CGCM News.
Lamin Sanneh Research Grants Available
The Overseas Ministry Study Center (OMSC) at Princeton Theological Seminary is now accepting proposals for two research grants established in honor of Professor Lamin Sanneh. The grants will fund work by scholars from the Middle East, Oceania, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa, or Asia in the field of mission studies, intercultural theology, or related fields. Both of the two recipients will receive $10,000 for their research, and applications are due by July 30. Find the details and requirements here.
Prof. Roldán-Figueroa Named Director of Center for Latin American Studies
Congratulations to Dr. Rady Roldán-Figueroa, who has just been named the new director for the Center for Latin American Studies at the Pardee School of Global Studies! Prof. Roldán-Figueroa, Associate Professor of the History of Christianity at the School of Theology and a CGCM faculty associate, is a specialist in the history of early modern global Catholicism. His latest publication is The Martyrs of Japan: Publication History and Catholic Missions in the Spanish World (Spain, New Spain, and the Philippines, 1597–1700) (Brill, 2021). Learn more news about his new appointment at the Pardee School here.
25 Years of the UMC Order of Deacon
In commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the creation the Order of Deacon in the United Methodist Church, Dr. Benjamin Hartley ('05) recently reflected on The Deacon: Ministry through Words of Faith and Acts of Love, a book he co-authored with Paul E. Van Buren in 1998. This discussion between the two authors appeared in UM & Global, a blog that highlights the global connections in the UMC. Hartley discusses the impact of faculty members at STH in the progress of his thinking about the work of the diaconate.
In fall 2021, Hartley will become Associate Professor of Mission and World Christianity and Director of Strategic Initiatives at Seattle Pacific University. He is an expert on the mission leader John R. Mott, and his essay, "Pragmatic Internationalist: John R. Mott’s Negotiation of Nationalisms and Racism, 1895-1925," will appear in a forthcoming essay collection edited by Drs. Dana Robert and Judith Becker.
Call for Essay Proposals: Methodism & American Empire Project
Dr. David W. Scott and Dr. Filipe Maia are leading the Methodism & American Empire Project, a forthcoming collection of essays on the connections between Methodism (or churches in the Wesleyan tradition) and US imperialism. Dr. Scott is the mission theologian for the United Methodist Church and a visiting researcher with the CGCM, and Dr. Maia is Assistant Professor of Theology at BUSTH. A detailed description of the project's thematic concept is available here.
They welcome proposals for essays which interact with the following themes:
- Historical essays tying Methodist missionary activity and the expansion of United States foreign interests. Case studies could include US missionaries in Puerto Rico, Western Africa, the Philippines, the impact of US expansions on the church in the United States, and international structures of Methodism, etc.
- Theological and ethical reflections on Wesleyan theology, Empire studies, and political theology.
- Liturgical, worship, and ministry resources (sermons, liturgies, litanies, biblical studies, Sunday school lessons, etc.) for church communities to engage in anti-imperial reflections.
- Practical resources on activism, advocacy, and mission focused on Methodist communities and contexts.
Essay proposals are due August 31, 2021. Proposals should include 300–400-word description of the project and ought to be submitted as an email attachment to the editors, David Scott (dscott@umcmission.org) and Filipe Maia (fmaia@bu.edu). Accepted proposals will be communicated to authors by September 30, 2021.
Dr. Jesse Ciccotti on “Christian Theology in a Chinese Idiom”
Register to attend here.
Bulhoek Centenary Symposium
On May 24, 2021 (8:00-12:50 SAST), the University of Pretoria Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship and the Johannesburg Institute of Advanced Study are hosting a symposium which will remember the Bulhoek Massacre of 1921, in which members of the Israelites Church were killed by Union police and in which its leader, Enoch Mgijima, was arrested.
In Memory of C. René Padilla (1932-2021)
On April 27, C. René Padilla, the influential Ecuadorian theologian and publisher, passed away. Padilla is best known for his articulation of misión integral, a theology of mission which emphasizes the equal and interrelated importance of evangelism and social engagement. Padilla was an influential speaker at the First Lausanne Congress of 1974, and he served as a staff person for the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) for much of his life. He was the co-founder, with his wife Catherine, of the Centro de Estudios Teológicos Interdisciplinarios (CETI), the leader of the Kairos Center for Integral Mission, and head of Kairos Publishing. He is the author of many articles as well as the collection entitled Mission Between the Times: Essays on the Kingdom (1985, 1st ed.).
A full obituary can be found at Christianity Today.
René Padilla's daughter, Dr. Ruth Padilla DeBorst ('16), a BU alumna who studied with Dr. Dana Robert, also serves with CETI and the International Fellowship for Mission as Transformation (INFEMIT).
In Memory of Joanne P. Anderson (1935-2021)
Joanne Pemberton Anderson (1953-2021) died on Friday, April 30, in Hamden, CT. She was a generous supporter of the Center for Global Christianity & Mission, and we mourn her passing.
Mrs. Anderson was a leader alongside her husband Dr. Gerald H. Anderson at the Overseas Ministry Study Center (OMSC) for 26 years. The following obituary and tribute is provided by the OMSC.
"Joanne Pemberton Anderson, died at 86 on Friday, April 30 in Hamden, CT. The daughter of the Rev. James and Irma Pemberton, she was born in Philadelphia (1935), and graduated from Asbury College (B.A., 1957) and Columbia University Teachers College (M.A., 1966). Prior to marriage in 1960 she taught English and journalism in East Providence (Rhode Island) High School.
With her husband, the Rev. Dr. Gerald H. Anderson, she was a Methodist missionary in the Philippines from 1960 to 1970. During her years in the Philippines she taught at Harris Memorial College for Methodist Deaconesses and at Union Theological Seminary, Manila, and had two children, a son (Brooks, 1965) and a daughter (Allison, 1967). Her book The World’s Children in Pictures: The Philippines was published by Friendship Press, New York, in 1968.
After returning to the United States she worked in a variety of administrative positions at Stockton State College, New Jersey (1974-1987) and was Executive Assistant to the Dean of Yale School of Medicine (1988-1997).
During the 26 years of her husband’s tenure at the Overseas Ministries Study Center (1974–2000), Joanne was “keeper of the home front,” while he travelled extensively. Together they hosted hundreds of OMSC residents and guests from many parts of the world in their home for evenings of dessert, conversation and sharing about faith journeys.
In January 2001, she and her husband travelled around the world through Asia as emissaries of the Overseas Ministries Study Center, visiting seminaries, church leaders, and former residents of OMSC. This trip also provided an opportunity for a visit with their son Brooks and his wife Shano, who work in public health in South India.
She enjoyed being grandmother to Connor Mislow and Alexa Mislow, children of her daughter Allison and husband Robert Mislow who live in Orange, CT.
In 2001 Joanne received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Albertus Magnus College, New Haven, CT, “in recognition of distinguished achievement and service to society.”
Her husband says that Joanne was God’s gracious gift. As Henry James once said, “There are only three things important in life. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind and the third is to be kind.” My Joanne, her husband said, “was the kindest person I ever knew.”
In addition to the family members mentioned above, she is survived by a younger brother Bruce Pemberton (and Gloria), with their children, in Chelmsford, MA.
Her family will receive relatives and friends on Friday, May 7 from 10 to 11 am in the Hawley Lincoln Funeral Home, 424 Elm Street, New Haven. A funeral service will be held in the funeral home at 11 am. Interment will follow at Grove Street Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, the Anderson family asks you to consider making a donation in her name to the Overseas Ministries Study Center at Princeton Theological Seminary."
Those who wish to write to Dr. Anderson should use the following address:
Dr. Gerald H. Anderson, 200 Leeder Hill Drive, Apt 407, Hamden, CT 06517, USA
“Transfiguring World Christianity” 2021 Lecture Series
The Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide is hosting a series of lectures, "Transfiguring World Christianity," during April-November 2021. The lectures are in celebration of the Centre's Silver Jubilee.
The first of the five lectures is on the topic ‘Solidarity: Figuring out World Christianity and the Pandemic’, to be delivered by Prof Joanildo Burity, Lead Researcher and Professor at the Joaquim Nabuco Foundation and the Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil, on Wednesday, 28th April, at 4 pm British Summer Time, on Zoom. The session will be chaired by Rt Revd Dr Graham Kings, the Founding Director of CCCW.
If you would like to join, please email us at centre@cccw.cam.ac.uk for a Zoom link.
Visit the Centre's site to see the topics of future lectures as well!
Upcoming Conference on “Christianity & Empire Revisited”
On May 27-28, the McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics and Public Life and the Faculty of Theology & Religion at the University of Oxford will host an online conference on the theme "Christianity, Commerce and Civilisation? Christianity and Empire Revisited: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives."
During the Modern period the study of patterns of colonialization and the development of empires has focussed on the expansion of the Western mercantile powers. A perennial question in reviewing these processes of history, commerce and politics has been the question of the role of religion and more particularly the place of Christian Missions. It is reflected in the well-known phrase of David Livingstone which forms the title for the conference. Whilst the complexity and nuances of the issues have often been recognised by professional historians, in popular discourse the debate has often been caught up in ‘culture wars’, in which missions and missionaries have too often simply been assumed to be ‘agents of empire’. The aim of this conference is to explicate further the complexities of the relationships between Christianity, Missions, Colonies and Empire as they developed in the Modern era, and to contribute scholarly insights from historical and other disciplinary perspectives.
The keynote address will be given by Prof. Brian Stanley, Professor of World Christianity at the University of Edinburgh. Find the abstracts to all the conference presentations, as well as registration information, here.