
These two Indian men and their elephant were photographed by missionaries from the Regions Beyond Missionary Union around 1920. The decorative designs on the elephant indicate it may be part of a local festival, or mela. (CSWC33/OS16/17)
Leading scholarship in World Christianity since 1982.
The Centre for the Study of World Christianity (formerly, the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World) exists to advance high-quality scholarship in Christianity as a polycentric faith whose adherents are now far more numerous in the majority world than in Europe or North America. It has the primary post-graduate focus of the School of Divinity’s keen interest in the history
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These two Indian men and their elephant were photographed by missionaries from the Regions Beyond Missionary Union around 1920. The decorative designs on the elephant indicate it may be part of a local festival, or mela. (CSWC33/OS16/17)
Did you know there are over 80 Christian churches and fellowships in Edinburgh focused on global majority Christians?!
We just updated our Global Christians in Edinburgh report, with a refreshed listing of these groups.
Global Christians in Edinburgh | Centre for the Study of World Christianity Global Christians in Edinburgh Global Christians in Edinburgh The ‘Global Christians in Edinburgh’ project is an important shift of the work of the Centre for the Study of World Christianity, which has historically focused on the global diversity of Christianity outside of Scotland. This projec...
A woman and three children sit outside a dwelling in present-day Malawi in this image from a collection generated by missionary J. W. MacKay, circa 1914-1918. (CSWC47/LS13/62)
Tinted lantern slide of a European man (possibly Charles Somerville) pointing to traditional Chinese characters painted onto the iron window shutters of a building. The characters read 'dian you', or 'there is electricity.' This slide comes from a collection held by the Church of Scotland and generated by Somerville, who was a medical missionary working for the London Missionary Society in Hankou from 1904 to 1914. (CSWC47/LS1/15)
Hindu devotees surround a temple in this image from an unnamed area of India. The tinted lantern slide comes from a collection created by missionaries from Regions Beyond Missionary Union, an interdenominational Protestant evangelical mission working in northeast India (Bihar and Orissa) and Nepal. (CSWC33/OS15/22)
A special issue of Studies in World Christianity (Edinburgh University Press) has just been released, focused on the timely and urgent theme of “Orthodox Christian Churches and War Politics in Ethiopia and Ukraine.”
This issue was guest edited by Romina Istratii and Lars Laamann.
Studies in World Christianity 30.2 | Centre for the Study of World Christianity Studies in World Christianity 30.2 Posted on 24 July 2024 by CSWCEdinburgh Orthodox Christian Churches and War Politics in Ethiopia and Ukraine Guest editors: Romina Istratii and Lars Laamann In November 2020 a conflict erupted in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Religious discourse was used to propag...
Missionary Emily Godfrey took this black and white photograph of a leopard cub, likely between 1933 and 1943. The photograph was pasted into one of a series of exercise book albums created by Godfrey, who was the matron of the Ama Achara Methodist Hospital run by the Methodist Missionary Society in southeast Nigeria. (CSWC20/1/5/49)
This young Indian cattle herder was photographed about 1930 by missionaries from the Regions Beyond Missionary Union, an interdenominational Protestant evangelical mission working in northeast India (Bihar and Orissa) and Nepal. (CSWC33/OS16/73)
Congolese converts await baptism in this black and white lantern slide from around 1920 to 1930. The image comes from a collection generated by missionaries working for the Congo Balolo Mission. (CSWC33/OS10/24)
Wonderful news that Centre alumnus Victor Ezigbo has been appointed the first Professor of Global Christianity at Wycliffe College! Congratulations Victor!!
Dr. Victor Ezigbo Appointed First Professor of Global Christianity On behalf of the Wycliffe College Board of Trustees, Principal Stephen Andrews is pleased to announce the appointment of Victor I. Ezigbo as the College’s first Professor of Global Christianity and Intercultural Ministry, a post he will take up on January 1, 2025.
This map of London Missionary Society stations in eastern China comes from about 1905 to 1914 and was part of a group of slides highlighting the work of foreign missions. (CSWC47/LS1/58)
The latest blog in our series, by Savannah Weiler, examines how missionaries associated with the Regions Beyond Missionary Union advertised their needs for human and material resources for evangelical audiences in Britain.
The RBMU’s Calls for Personnel and Materials | Centre for the Study of World Christianity The RBMU’s Calls for Personnel and Materials Posted on 26 June 2024 by Pedro Feitoza by Savannah Weiler This flyer by the Regions Beyond Missionary Union’s Southern Sierra Team was printed in 1973 to advertise personnel requirements on the one side, and material requirements on the other. The il...
Identified as a "convention group," this image depicts both Indian and European missionaries and evangelists, circa 1925. The slide comes from a collection created by missionaries from the Regions Beyond Missionary Union, an interdenominational Protestant evangelical mission working in northeast India (Bihar and Orissa) and Nepal. (CSWC33/OS14/71)
Our latest blog by Savannah Weiler discusses how evangelical missionaries in the Peruvian Amazon in the 1960s documented their travels and compiled demographic and ethnographic data about indigenous populations in the region.
https://www.cswc.div.ed.ac.uk/2024/06/documenting-evangelistic-work-and-everyday-life-in-the-peruvian-amazon/
In our new blog, Alice Fagan discusses the role of obstetrics and nursing in the missionary work of the RBMU in Peru.
https://www.cswc.div.ed.ac.uk/2024/06/obstetrics-as-part-of-missionary-work-in-latin-america/
Wonderful to have Professor Carlos Cardoza Orlandi (Baylor University) delivering the keynote lecture in the upcoming . His lecture is entitled: Jesus in the World of the Spirits: Caribbean Evangélico Christianity and Afro-Caribbean Religions.
Excited to announce the keynote speaker for the 2024 conference of the Yale-Edinburgh Group, happening at YDS June 26-28. The keynoter is Carlos Cardoza Orlandi, Professor of World Christianity at Baylor University.
Lecture title: “Jesus in the World of the Spirits: Caribbean Evangélico Christianity and Afro-Caribbean Religions.”
Conference details here:
https://divinity.yale.edu/faculty-research/programs-and-initiatives/yale-edinburgh-group-world-christianity-and-history-mission
A group of African men can be seen carrying a large log in this black and white lantern slide from a collection created by the missionary J. W. MacKay. Note the African man in a long, European style jacket and tall hat, who can be seen to the right side of the image. This slide comes from a set on the activities of the King’s African Rifles battalions in Nyasaland (present-day Malawi) and was originally held by the Church of Scotland. (CSWC47/LS13/78)
Our latest blog looks at personal memories of missionary work in Peru by crossing the archives of the Regions Beyond Missionary Union with social media publications. Another important contribution of our student intern Savannah Weiler.
Memory and Mission in Peru | Centre for the Study of World Christianity Memory and Mission in Peru Posted on 5 June 2024 by Pedro Feitoza by Savannah Weiler As I was going through the financial records for the Regions Beyond Missionary union, which includes records for the RBMU run Evangelical Hospital at Lamas, Peru, an internet search of the Evangelical Hospital of La...
This lantern slide from the collection of a missionary serving in China between 1904 and 1914 was likely used to show mission supporters in Scotland how the Chinese writing system developed. It shows both ancient and "modern" (pre-1949, referred to as traditional) Chinese characters. The evolution of characters from initial resemblance to their signifiers is displayed. (CSWC47/LS1/49)
Our new blog looks at the history of the Peruvian Inland Mission (founded in 1930) through the mission's index cards. These documents provided important details about the situation of mission stations and the activities, routines, and ordeals of missionaries.
Index Cards of the Peruvian Inland Mission | Centre for the Study of World Christianity Index Cards of the Peruvian Inland Mission Posted on 22 May 2024 by Pedro Feitoza by Savannah Weiler The Peruvian Inland Mission (PIM) was founded by Miss Annie G. Soper in 1930 and was active in the area around Lamas, northern Peru until 1948. Index cards form part of the large collection of record...
🎙️Listen to the recent podcast with Alexander Chow, Centre co-director, and Mark Nam speaking on Chinese heritage in British Christianity.
They were interviewed for the Mosaic Podcast at Singapore Bible College, by co-hosts Jackie Hwang (a Centre PhD student) and Justin Lee.
Apple Podcast👉🏼 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alexander-chow-mark-nam-contextualisation-for-chinese/id1615931412?i=1000655695590
Spotify👉🏼 https://open.spotify.com/episode/2O9JSkqbv0pmVMtrs4y7KR?si=dwRG5UknSL-qKOj4FUEvfg
Tinted lantern slide showing a scene in an Indian village, circa 1920. A man sits in the shade of a shelter, from which hang cloth items. Three men can be seen standing in the background. This slide comes from a collection created by missionaries from Regions Beyond Missionary Union, an interdenominational Protestant evangelical mission working in northeast India (Bihar and Orissa) and Nepal. (CSWC33/OS16/66)
Over the next few months we will publish in our website some blogs exploring the CSWC archival collections on evangelical missionary work in modern Latin America. Our first post introduces the blogs' authors and the work they've been doing.
Latin American collections | Centre for the Study of World Christianity Latin American collections Posted on 15 May 2024 by Pedro Feitoza Since January two students have been working at the Centre for Research Collections at the Main Library of the University of Edinburgh cataloguing the rich archives of the Regions Beyond Missionary Union (RBMU). Alice Fagan and Savann...
One more month left to meet the June 15th deadline for the Walls-Bediako Memorial Article. Remember, Studies in World Christianity (Edinburgh University Press) is open to any author from the majority world who is offering an original research article on any subject within World Christianity. The article will be published Gold Open Access, with all fees waived.
For more info 👉 https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/story/10.3366/news.2023.09.19.500480
A large group of people, including children and young people, enter the church in Lamas, Peru (possibly the Evangelical Church) about 1947. This slide comes from a collection created by the Peruvian Inland Mission, an evangelical mission started in 1930 by Miss Annie G Soper in northeast Peru, which was administered by the evangelical interdenominational mission, Regions Beyond Missionary Union from 1948. (CSWC33/OS13/58)
This black and white lantern slide shows a man climbing a palm tree with the help of a rope harness. The palm oil and palm kernel industry was extremely important to the Calabar area, and provided income for local people (and profits for colonial traders) replacing the slave trade after the mid-nineteenth century. This slide comes from a set on mission, culture and industry in Calabar (southeast Nigeria) generated by the Church of Scotland and the United Free Church of Scotland (which joined together as the Church of Scotland in 1929.) (CSWC47/LS9/38)
This tinted lantern slide is of an unnamed rural village in China, featuring its walls and one-storey dwellings. The village is probably in North China. The slide was developed by the Photo Department, Tientsin Hui Wen Academy, Tientsin, China, and comes from a collection held by the Church of Scotland and generated by the medical missionary Charles Somerville, who worked for the London Missionary Society in Hankou from 1904 to 1914. (CSWC47/LS1/32)
We are thrilled to announce our incredible lineup of speakers for the upcoming World Christianity Summer Institute! Our speakers represent a diverse range of backgrounds and perspectives, connecting Christians from the global North and South, East and West.
Among them are:
🇬🇧 Dr. Jayakumar Christian, Tearfund
🇮🇳 Revd Prof Israel David, United Theological College, Bangalore, India
🇺🇸 Revd Dr A Katherine Grieb, Virginia Theological Seminary, USA
🇬🇧 Dr. Jörg Haustein, University of Cambridge
🇬🇧 Revd Dr Peter Heslam, Faith in Business, Cambridge
🇬🇧 Revd Dr Muthuraj Swamy, CCCW
🇮🇳 Revd Prof C David Joy, Kerala United Theological Seminary, India
🇨🇿 Dr. Pavlína Kašparová, CCCW
🇰🇷 Dr. Chammah J. Kaunda, Yonsei University, South Korea
🇰🇪 Prof Esther Mombo, St Paul’s University, Limuru, Kenya
🇯🇲 Dr. Anna Kasafi Perkins, University of the West Indies, Jamaica
🇬🇧 Mr. Philip Powell, Theology and Network Engagement Team, Tearfund, UK
🇬🇧 Dr. Jonathan E. Soyars, Westminster College, Cambridge
🇬🇧 Revd Canon Dr Stephen Spencer, Commission for Theological Education in the Anglican Communion, London
🇧🇷 Dr. Paulo Ueti, Anglican Alliance, Brazil
Apply by 30 April 2024! 🔗📄 Download Application Form and Flyer: https://www.cccw.cam.ac.uk/summer-institute-2024/
📩 Have questions? Reach out to [email protected]
Yale-Edinburgh 2024 conference discusses "Spirit and the Spiritual: Ancestors, Deities and the Holy Spirit in Church and Mission." More information on the call for papers and other conference details here:
https://divinity.yale.edu/faculty-research/programs-and-initiatives/yale-edinburgh-group-world-christianity-and-history-mission Kyama Mugambi OMSC at PTS Centre for the Study of World Christianity
Titled "Motihari station, India, ca. 1906," the commentary on this black and white lantern slide notes a missionary on the platform. Missionaries from the Regions Beyond Missionary Union opened a mission station in Motihari in 1900. (CSWC33/OS14/6)
The Centre for the Study of World Christianity (formerly, the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World) exists to advance high-quality scholarship in Christianity as a polycentric faith whose adherents are now far more numerous in the majority world than in Europe or North America. It has the primary post-graduate focus of the School of Divinity’s keen interest in the history and contemporary reality of Christianity as a world religion.
We seek to make a distinctive contribution to scholarly knowledge in all areas of the study of world Christianity through interdisciplinary research, teaching and publication.
More information on graduate study can be found on the University of Edinburgh website:
http://www.ed.ac.uk/divinity/research/centres/world-christianity/postgraduate-study
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