Daryl Ireland

Daryl R. Ireland is fascinated by popular forms of Christianity. The work done by pastors, priests, and academic theologians is important, but how do young urbanites express their faith? What makes the gospel appealing to illiterate farmers? Which sounds and images can both captivate and express the imagination of the masses? These questions have pushed Ireland to explore such things as Chinese revivals, West African Pentecostal films, and the North American Sanctuary Movement. He has also worked to document popular Christianity, collaborating with a team to create digital tools such as the China Historical Christian Database and the Chinese Christian Posters project. He is a recognized authority on Chinese Christianity, but his interests and position as the Associate Director of the Center for Global Christianity and Mission have kept him attentive to the many expressions of Christianity around the world.

Selected Publications

Chinese Christian Witness: Identity, Creativity, Transmission, and Poetics (Co-Editor). Leiden: Brill, 2025.

New Wineskins: Forming and Reforming the American Society of Missiology, 1973-2023. (Co-Author). Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2025.

Visions of Salvation: Chinese Christian Propaganda Posters in an Age of Revolution (Editor). Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2023.

Unlikely Friends: How God Uses Boundary Crossing Friendship to Transform the World (Co-Editor). Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2021.

John Song: Chinese Christianity and the Making of a New Man. Waco: TX: Baylor University Press, 2020.