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.
New Global Anabaptist History Series Deepens Understanding of God’s Work in the World
Anicka Fast is editing a biographical book series about Anabaptists in Africa, Asia and Latin America. This series brings global history to life, as it is told by local historians. The first volume of the series focuses on Mennonite leaders in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Read article here.
Cambridge Center for Christianity Worldwide Seminar, 5 Nov 2025
The Paradoxes of the Regional and the Local in Pacific Theologies and Christianities
Dr Richard Davis, Wesley House, Cambridge
Wednesday 5 November 2025, 4.00–5.30pm GMT
Lightfoot Room, Faculty of Divinity, West Road & Online
Pacific Christianity has an identity crisis. On the one hand, Pacific Christians speak of the “Pacific Way” or a common “Pacific Culture” in their perennial quest for a Pacific contextual theology. Such theologies have been based on the common experience of the sea, the communal, or “relational” nature of Pacific cultures, or the (largely) shared colonial/post-colonial experience. On the other hand, the Pacific region’s diversity makes such commonalities highly questionable, while at the same time ecumenical commitments are waning. The regionalists speak in ideological and regional terms, which cut across ethnographic methods, leading to regional theologies and frameworks which local theologians and churches are expected to adopt. In response, local and parochial theologies and Christian institutions are in the ascendancy, which ultimately threaten the regional institutions that provide the scholars and leaders of national churches. Yet while the regional approaches are failing or intellectually weak, they are needed to support regional and ecumenical Christianity in the Pacific. This paper will explore these questions and ask whether regional theologies can mediate between the universal and the local for the advantage of all.
Dr Richard Davis is the Vice Principal and Director of the Centre for Faith in Public Life at Wesley House, Cambridge. A New Zealander, Richard taught theology and ethics for several years at the Pacific Theological College in Fiji Islands. At Wesley House he teaches African contextual theology and supervises PhD students from around the world. His own research is in Decolonial Settler Theology, being a contextual decolonising theology for and by settlers in settler colonial societies. He has authored several publications on themes including Christianity in Oceania, political/public theology, settler colonialism, and climate justice.
Download a flyer here.
Toyohiko Kagawa’s War Responsibility Confession
Professor Eugenio Menegon Publishes Two New Essays
The Center for Global Christianity and Mission's Affiliated Faculty member, Professor Eugenio Menegon, recently published two new essays:
1) “Carletti and Religion: Christianity and Asian Traditions in the Ragionamenti,” in Brian Brege, Paula Findlen and Giorgio Riello eds., Trading at the Edges of Empire: Francesco Carletti’s World, ca. 1600, Florence & Cambridge (Ma.): Villa I Tatti - Officina Libraria - Harvard University Press, 2025, pp. 117-137; and,
2) “The Tragic Jesuit Embassy of the Kangxi Emperor to Pope Clement XI, and the Lisbon Experience of ‘Imperial Envoy’ Antonio Provana,” in David Salomoni, Luana Giurgevich, and Henrique Leitão eds., Santo Antão: The Jesuit College in Lisbon and Its History, Leiden: Brill, 2025, pp. 316–38.
THE SIXTH ANNUAL DANIEL J. HARRINGTON, S.J. LECTURE: THE WISDOM OF NYA MODO AND AFRO-GLOBALIZATION
Presenter: Jean Luc Enyegue, S.J., director of the Jesuit Historical Institute in Africa; lecturer in Church History at Hekima University College
Location:Theology & Ministry Library Auditorium, Brighton Campus
Free of charge
In the Ewondo language of Central Africa, a nya mdo, or “mother of man,” refers to a wise person, often an elder, whose social influence fosters communal cohesion, ethical guidance, and a sense of hope. In this lecture honoring nya mdo Fr. Daniel Harrington, S.J., Dr. Jean-Luc Enyegue, S.J. explores how nya modo can be used as a conceptual framework for interpreting African Christianity and its role within the global Church. He argues that this concept provides a compelling model for theological reflection, positioning African Christianity as as source of hope for African communities and the world at large.
Presentation of the Alumni Distinguished Service Award
Sponsored by Boston College Clough School of Theology and Minsitry
Advanced Registration Required - Register here
HDS Yang Visiting Scholars in World Christianity Now Accepting Applications for 2026-27
“Apply to the Yang Visiting Scholars Program in World Christianity at Harvard Divinity School!
Click here to see the full PDF
Please note the following description and eligibility requirements:
Responsibilities
Each visiting scholar teaches one course (either in the fall or in the spring semester) and presents their research in a public lecture, panel discussion, or events during their time at HDS. Yang Visiting Scholars are required to be in full-time residence at Harvard Divinity School while carrying out their proposed research projects and while teaching their course.
Any publication and/or research resulting from the stay at Harvard Divinity School must be credited to the Yang Visiting Scholars Program in World Christianity at Harvard Divinity School.
Eligibility
Positions are open to early career and senior scholars with doctorates in the fields of religion and to those with primary competence in other humanities, social science, and public policy fields who demonstrate a serious interest in World Christianity and hold appropriate degrees in those fields. Selection criteria emphasize the quality of the applicant's research prospectus, teaching experience, publication plans, and the significance of the contribution of the proposed research to the study of World Christianity – its cultural, social and political contexts, viewed globally, and not only through the lens of specific regions. Yang Scholars for the 2026–27 academic year must have received the PhD (doctoral) degree by June 30, 2026.
Applications are only accepted through the Harvard employment website. No hardcopy/regular mail or email applications are possible.
For more information visit our website at https://hds.harvard.edu/faculty-research/research-appointments/yang-visiting-scholars-world-christianity or contact the Yang Scholars Program Office at yangscholars@hds.harvard.edu”
2025 ASCH Research Fellowships Winner
We’re thrilled to share that the 2025 American Society of Church History Research Fellowship has been awarded to Dr. Gina Zurlo (’17)!
Her project explores "Irruption Within the Irruption: A Women’s History of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians, 1976–2000."
With a cash value of $1000, this competitive and prestigious award was adjudicated by ASCH's Graduate Students and Independent Scholars Awards Committee, chaired this year by Prof. Elizabeth Jemison.
Dr. Gina A. Zurlo Delivers Keynote at 2025 Christian Scholars’ Conference
The Center of Global Christianity and Mission is excited to celebrate Dr. Gina A. Zurlo, Visiting Lecturer on World Christianity at Harvard University, who served as the keynote speaker at the 2025 Thomas H. Olbricht Christian Scholars' Conference, held June 4–6 at Abilene Christian University.
Congratulations, Dr. Zurlo!
Photo: Gina Zurlo (left; BU STH Alum '17), Jacob Snowden (center; BU STH Alum '13), Shawn Daggett (right; BU STH Alum '07)
Photo courtesy of Shawn Daggett
Seminar with Dr. Kate Tilson: “Assembling Missionary Knowledge – Evangelical Periodicals in Britain and the South Pacific, 1793–1820”
We’re pleased to invite you to the final seminar of a strong term of discussions. This coming Tuesday, 27 May 2025, we welcome Dr. Kate Tilson (University of Cambridge) to present:
Assembling Missionary Knowledge: The Making and Reading of Evangelical Periodicals in Britain and the South Pacific, 1793–1820
See flyer for more details.
Location: Faculty of Divinity, Room 7
Date: Tuesday, 27, May 2025
Time: 4:00 – 5:30pm BST
Please register your interest to attend online or in person by emailing centre@cccw.cam.ac.uk. This helps us plan for both room capacity and online hosting.
Join via Zoom
Meeting ID: 931 3650 8607
Passcode: 568920
CCCW Seminar with Prof. Uta Balbier: “Safari for Souls – Billy Graham, US Evangelicalism, and the Cold War in Africa (1960)”
You’re invited to a fascinating seminar: ‘Safari for Souls’ – Billy Graham, US Evangelicalism, and the Cold War in Africa (1960) with Prof. Uta Balbier (University of Oxford).
When: Tuesday, 6 May 2025, 3:30-5 pm BST.
For a Zoom link, please email centre@cccw.cam.ac.uk