Research
The research agenda of the Center for Global Christianity is driven by the interests of the people who are part of its community. Reports about their ongoing work will be posted from time to time.
Uncovering Women’s Mission Stories
The BBC has produced an article about a unique book published in 1942. A Tibetan scholar stumbled across Sue in Tibet in a second-hand book store. To have a female character as the central character in a book in the 1940s was unique, but even more fascinating with the historical accuracy of the tale. The scholar found the story so intriguing that she ended up tracking down the history of the author, Dorris Shelton Still, a missionary kid. Not long ago, Visiting CGCM Researcher Cathy Corman found herself in a similar situation. Introduced to Barbara (Barry) Beach Alter, Dr. Corman became curious about her... More
Popular Spiritual Movements in Southeast Asia
The Handbook on Popular Spiritual Movements (PSM) in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia was a research project and publication owned by Trinity Theological College (TTC), Singapore, under the leadership of Dr. Michael Poon, Director of the Centre for the Study of Christianity in Asia (CSCA). Boston University, through the Center for Global Christianity and Mission, was a supportive partner through the participation of Dr. Charles Farhadian (PhD 2000) as a co-editor, Dr. Dana Robert as a consulting editor, and the Drs. Septemmy Lakawa (ThD, 2011), Daryl Ireland (PhD 2015), and David Scott (PhD, 2013) as contributors to section III: Case Studies of Popular Spiritual Movements.
Education as a Mission
Education as a Mission The Greatest Work in the World: Education as a Mission of Early TwentiethCentury Churches of Christ. Letters of Lloyd Cline Sears and Pattie Hathaway Armstrong The Stone-Campbell Connection Influences of Stone-Campbell Movement leaders on the writers of these letters are several and strong, beginning with Pattie Hathaway’s grandfather, James A. Harding. In 1869, Harding graduated from Bethany, a rigorous, private college near the Allegheny Mountains founded by Alexander Campbell. Although Campbell had died before Harding enrolled, his educational philosophy still influenced that institution.[2] Harding particularly absorbed Campbell’s emphases on propagating widely-accessible, liberal arts-based training overseen by well-equipped teachers who could guide... More
The West Virginia & Regional History Center Awards Research Grant to Soojin Chung
Soojin Chung was awarded a Research Grant to do further work on Pearl Sydenstriker Buck, a famous author from West Virginia. It is part of a larger project in which Chung is uncovering primary sources by female missionaries who worked during the post war period. She is particularly interested in how Pearl Buck and others served as missionaries and humanitarians who pioneered the transnational adoption movement.
Jesse Lee Prize Awarded to Doug Tzan
The General Commission on Archive and History (GCAH) of The United Methodist Church announced the 2015 winner of its highly sought-after Jesse Lee Prize: The Rev. Dr. Douglas Tzan (pictured), elder and full member of the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference. Tzan’s award winning manuscript is titled "The World His Circuit: The Methodist Odyssey of William Taylor." This work is a case study of a Methodist preacher, missionary, author, evangelist and bishop who not only mobilized the then Methodist Episcopal Church across the American frontier but brought the same energy, organization and enthusiasm across six continents. William Taylor (1821-1902) introduced American revivalism in places other... More