Tag Archives: Women

Studies in World Christianity 32.1

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Familiar Themes, New Angles

The articles in this issue present new angles on familiar themes within World Christianity. Translation, the regional histories of churches and organisations, material aspects of religious belonging, and diasporic Christianity are all explored here. Particular case-studies in specific geographical locations are examined in each article. Yet each article also acknowledges the ways that Christians in one area relate to those in another part of the world. The intersection of a specific context and the actors’ wider connections are the ingredients for exploring a theme for a fresh perspective.

In each of these articles, attention to a specific place and organisation allows the authors to examine new aspects of wider themes, furthering knowledge and understanding of World Christianity as both local and global, distinct and interconnected. Reading these articles, we observe how and why translation and interpretation of key concepts shaped a Christian movement, how far regional histories of global organisations and women’s groups in mission-initiated churches disseminate and adapt Christian practices and values. We learn in what ways material aspects of religious identity influence behaviour and belonging, and how diasporic churches live their fellowship in marginal and hostile environments.

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Honorary DD Conferred upon Centre Alumna, Professor Esther Mombo

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Professor Esther Mombo DD, on the 27th of November 2023. Photo by Douglas Robertson.

On the 27th of November 2023, Professor Esther Mombo, an alumna of the Centre, was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Divinity from the University of Edinburgh. Below is her speech delivered upon receiving the prestigious honor.

Exactly 25 years ago today I graduated with a PhD from this exact place. I was given powers to read and to do all that pertains to the degree. Today I have been conferred with a honorary degree in recognition of the work I have done after the PhD degree. 

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Studies in World Christianity 29.1

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Women in World Christianity: Navigating Identities

Edited by Nuam Hatzaw and Jessie Fubara-Manuel

Leading Ghanaian theologian Mercy Amba Oduyoye describes theology without the inclusion of women as a one-winged bird – hindered and unable to soar to its full potential. In her opening address at the inaugural meeting of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians (the Circle) in 1989, she contended that African theology needs to pay proper attention to women’s issues, experiences and theological reflections in order that it might be a two-winged theology that can take full flight. Oduyoye’s comments highlighted the pervasive omission of women’s voices within religious institutions and theological and religious studies literature. Despite women’s important and pivotal roles in these arenas, their contributions, perspectives and needs have gone consistently underplayed, or been otherwise dismissed.

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Studies in World Christianity 28.1

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Oral, Print and Digital Cultures

A few years ago, Andrew Walls told me that he had once hoped to become a missionary to China. However, with the rise of the Chinese communist revolution, those plans were dashed, and he eventually made his way to Sierra Leone in 1957, followed by Nigeria in 1962. One wonders how the study of World Christianity would have been different if the doyen of the academic field spent his formative missionary years in China instead of Africa. Would he have had the same epiphany in Beijing or Shanghai or Wenzhou that he was ‘actually living in a second-century church’? When considering Confucianism or Daoism, would he likewise speak of the place of ‘primal religions’ in shaping the consciousness of another faith, be it Christianity or Buddhism? Both are undoubtedly possibilities. But perhaps, in this parallel universe, the area less likely to have developed would have been his recognition of the importance of oral cultures – a pervasive characteristic in his beloved Africa, but scantly recognised in China.

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