This is an interview with Prof. Andrew F. Walls, founder and honorary professor of the Centre for the Study of World Christianity, conducted in August 2016. Prof. Walls discusses his understanding of the field of study which is now known as ‘world Christianity’ – a field which he helped to create.
This is an interview with Dr David C. Kirkpatrick, alumnus and teaching fellow of the Centre for the Study of World Christianity, conducted in March 2016. Dr Kirkpatrick discusses how he first came to the University of Edinburgh to study at the Centre, before talking about his research in Latin American Christianity and his experience as a teaching fellow at his alma mater.
Special Issue: Religion and Sport
Religion and Sport is an emerging theme. However, while there is an ever-increasing literature base, there is a serious lack of empirical research in the field of sport and religion. Research, scholarly meetings, journals and practical initiatives that focus on sport and religion have exponentially increased during the last decade. However, these discourses are limited to contexts of a particular country and of a particular discipline. The vast majority of research on sport–religion has come from the USA and focused on a narrow evangelical manifestation of Christianity. There is little, except for Catholic reflection on sport from the Vatican, from mainland Europe and on non-Western understandings of religion and sports. Most of the contributions published in the USA or the UK, for instance, do not take into account developments on the European continent or in Canada, not to mention Africa, Latin America and Asia. And yet important sporting events are characterised by their international dimension.
The articles in this special issue of Studies in World Christianity addresses this fascinating theme, and is based on a interdisciplinary workshop held in March 2013 at the University of Edinburgh entitled ‘Religion and Sport: Past, Present and Future’. Continue reading
I’m excited to report that, starting the academic year of 2015-2016, we will be offering a new graduate course entitled ‘Theologies of World Christianity’. It will mainly be aimed at graduate students of our World Christianity cohort (MTh/MSc), but open to other graduate students in the School of Divinity and beyond.1 The new course attempts to introduce students to the wide variety of Christian theologies that have been forming around the world, with particular focus on more recent developments in contexts such as Asia, Africa, and Latin America – with some references also to Europe and North America. Continue reading