The Henry Martyn Day Lecture 2025
Thursday 16 October 2025, 1600–1730pm BST, Runcie Room, Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge & Online
Professor Klaus Koschorke, University of Munich
‘To Give Publicity to Our Thoughts’: A Polycentric Approach to the History of World Christianity through
Indigenous Christian Journals from Asia and Africa Around 1900
At the end of the 19th century, indigenous Christian elites in Asia and Africa increasingly began to publish their own journals and periodicals – in order “to give publicity to our thoughts” and to make their voices heard in the colonial public sphere. In spite of their enormous significance, these journals have been largely overlooked and are often unknown even among regional specialists or mission historians. The lecture focuses on an early journal by Indian Christians, The Christian Patriot: A journal of social and religious progress (Madras/ Chennai 1890-1929). “Owned and Conducted entirely by the Native
Christian Community”, this weekly understood itself as mouthpiece of the South Indian Protestant community “as a whole”. It commented critically on the social and religious developments in the country and distanced itself both from missionary paternalism and Hindu fundamentalism. At the same time, it sought to connect the Indian Christian communities in India, South Asia and South Africa. It established also multiple links with local Christian leaders in other regions in the global South. The Christian Patriot represents a largely ignored category of sources indispensable for developing a new – and polycentric
– approach to the history of World Christianity.
Professor Klaus Koschorke held the chair for Early and Global History of Christianity at the University of Munich from 1993 to 2013. He inaugurated and developed the Munich-Freising Conferences as an international platform for interdisciplinary exchange and the development of a polycentric approach to the History of World Christianity. He has published widely on the history of Christianity in Asia, Africa, Latin America; Christian internationalisms around 1900; indigenous Christian journals and transregional networks between Asia, Africa and the Atlantic World around 1900; early Oriental churches. He
held multiple guest professorships in Asia (China, Japan, Korea, India, Sri Lanka), Africa (South Africa, Ethiopia), Switzerland and UK (Liverpool Hope). In March 2025, he was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award of Excellence by the Princeton Theological Seminary for his research into the development of World Christianity studies
More information here.
