The Ugandan Churches and the Political Centre edited by Paddy Musana, Angus Crichton, and Caroline Howell was launched on 22 September 2017 in Makerere University.

Amid heightened political tension in Uganda regarding the Presidential Age Limit Bill, the launch panel discussed the fundamental issues raised by the book about how the Ugandan churches have and do engage with the political centre.

The book, published by the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide, has been reviewed in Uganda’s national newspaper: New Vision.

The Cambridge launch, organised by Dr Angus Crichton (Ngoma Project) will take place at the upcoming CCCW seminar: Treasure and Trials: On Publishing The Ugandan Churches and the Political Centre on 18 October 2017 from 16:30-18:30 in the Divinity Faculty.

Copies of the book will be available at the launch.

Relocating World Christianity

A new book co-edited by the CCCW director, Emma Wild-Wood, and Cambridge colleagues, Prof David Maxwell and Dr Joel Cabrita, offers a new perspective on World Christianity studies. It explains why scholarship has focused upon the local and the regional and argues for the importance of transregional connections in the study of Christianity worldwide.

Relocating World Christianity: Interdisciplinary Studies in Universal and Local Expressions of the Christian Faith is newly published in print and electronically by Brill.

Case-studies by J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, Naures Atto, Pedro Feitoza, David C. Kirkpatrick, Chandra Mallampalli, Dorottya Nagy, Peter C. Phan, Andrew Preston, Joel Robbins, Chloe Starr, Charlotte Walker-Said highlight the universalist, globalising aspirations of many Christians worldwide.

“While we do not neglect the importance of the local, our aim is to give due weight to the significant transregional networks and exchanges that have constituted Christian communities, both historically and in the present day.” — back cover

A print copy will be available soon in our library.

The Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide is seeking to appoint a Director from 1 January 2018.  Applications are invited from candidates who wish to promote the understanding of and engagement with Christian mission and World Christianity.

This is an excellent opportunity for a creative and enterprising individual with a strong academic record to discern contemporary needs and develop the Centre’s educational role.

For further information click here.

See what the CCCW has planned for the forthcoming academic year by clicking on CCCW Termcard 2017-18

This month our library added the following volume to its collection: Ross, Kenneth R., Asamoah-Gyadu, J. Kwabena and Johnson, Todd M., editors (2017) Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa (Edinburgh Companions to Global Christianity) Edinburgh University Press. One of the editors, J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, from Trinity Theological Seminary in Ghana, is a friend of the Centre and has visited us in the past.

This large volume is the first in an exciting new series entitled ‘Edinburgh Companions to Global Christianity’ by Edinburgh University Press, who describe the new series in the following way:

“This series of reference volumes comprehensively maps worldwide Christianity, describing it in its entirety. Each volume covers a continent and offers country-specific studies as well as examining regional and continental trends. Through a combination of maps, tables, charts and graphs a full demographic analysis is provided, while original essays explore key topics and trends.” — Edinburgh University Press

Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa has chapters focusing on individual countries across this region of Africa, followed by chapters on major Christian traditions, and key themes, which include faith and culture, worship and spirituality, theology, social and political context, mission and evangelism, gender, religious freedom, inter-religious relations, the Bible in African Christianity, the anthropology of evil and migration. The conclusion looks to the future of Christianity in this region of Africa.

Lamin Sanneh, D. Willis James Professor of Mission and World Christianity, Yale Divinity School, writes:

“This useful reference guide to the profile of Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa is a reminder of the important religious and cultural shifts that have transformed the continent in very recent times and helps us keep our finger on the pulse of future changes.” — Lamin Sanneh

It is unsurprising that Edinburgh University Press have taken a lead in publishing this series on world Christianity since Edinburgh is the location of the highly-regarded Centre for the Study of World Christianity which continues to make a significant contribution to scholarly knowledge in the study of world Christianity through interdisciplinary research, teaching and publication.

Our current director, Dr Emma Wild-Wood, has been newly appointed Senior Lecturer in African Christianity and African Indigenous Religions there, and takes up the post on 1 January 2018.

The Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide library continues to seek purchases of high quality in the field of mission studies and Christianity in the non-western world. If you have any recommendations, do email me.

Ruth MacLean

Purchases

Kenneth R. Ross, J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu and Todd M. Johnson, editors (2017) Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa (Edinburgh Companions to Global Christianity series) Edinburgh University Press

Donations

Edward Coode Hore, edited by James B. Wolf (1970,71) Missionary to Tanganyika 1877-1888 : the writings of Edward Coode Hore Frank Cass & Co. Ltd, Gift of Professor John Iliffe

Robert Pickering Ashe (1971) Chronicles of Uganda Frank Cass & Co. Ltd, Gift of Professor John Iliffe

Ngwabi Bhebe (1979) Christianity and traditional religion in Western Zimbabwe 1859-1923 Longman, Gift of Professor John Iliffe

David B. Barrett, George K. Mambo, Janice McLaughlin, Malcolm J. McVeigh, editors (1973) Kenya churches handbook : the development of Kenyan Christianity, 1498-1973 Evangel Publishing House, Gift of Professor John Iliffe

Owen Chadwick (1975) The secularization of the European mind in the nineteenth century Cambridge University Press, Gift of Professor John Iliffe

Godfrey Sieber (1995) The Benedictines of Inkamana EOS Verlag, Gift of Professor John Iliffe

Holger Bernt Hansen (1984) Mission, church and state in a colonial setting : Uganda 1890-1925 Heinemann, Gift of Professor John Iliffe

World Council of Churches; P.C. Rodger and L. Vischer, editors (1964) The fourth World Conference on Faith and Order. (Faith and order paper no. 42) SCM Press Ltd, Gift of Westcott House, CTF

World Council of Churches (1975) Uniting in hope : reports and documents from the meeting of the Faith and Order Commission. (Faith and order paper no. 72) Commission on Faith and Order, World Council of Churches, Gift of Westcott House, CTF

World Council of Churches; William H. Lazareth (1982,83) Growing together in baptism, eucharist and ministry : a study guide (Faith and order paper no. 114) World Council of Churches, Gift of Westcott House, CTF

David M. Paton, editor (1976) Breaking barriers, Nairobi 1975 : the official report of the fifth Assembly of the World Council of Churches, Nairobi, 23 November – 10 December, 1975 William B. Eerdmans, Gift of Westcott House, CTF

Alan Falconer, editor (1998) Faith and Order in Moshi : the 1996 Commission Meeting (Faith and order paper no. 177) WCC Publications, Gift of Westcott House, CTF

Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland (1994) Returning pilgrims : insights from British and Irish participants in the fifth World Faith and Order Conference, Santiago de Compostela, 3-14 August 1993 CCBI, Gift of Westcott House, CTF

Elizabeth Isichei, editor (1982) Varieties of Christian experience in Nigeria The Macmillan Press Ltd, Gift of Professor John Iliffe

John Lawrence (1961) The hard facts about unity : a layman looks at the ecumenical movement SCM Press Ltd, Gift of Westcott House, CTF

Joint Commission on Church Union (1963) The church = its nature, function and ordering : Part one being the second report of the Joint Commission on church union set up by the Congregational Union of Australia, the Methodist Church of Australasia, and the Presbyterian Church of Australia. Part two being the proposed basis of union for these churches Aldersgate Press, Gift of Westcott House, CTF

Among the purchases added to the collection this month, David Tonghou Ngong, editor (2017) A new history of African Christian thought : from Cape to Cairo Routledge is well worth a mention. In this volume, the chapters provide a comprehensive overview of African Christian thought that goes back to North Africa in antiquity, mentioning Augustine and the Donatists, looks at Sub-Saharan Africa from the colonial period of missionary activity, and goes right up to the present. As the back cover describes:

“Challenging conventional, colonial divisions of Africa, A new history of African Christian thought demonstrates that important continuities exist across the continent. Chapters written by specialists in African Christian thought reflect the issues – both ancient and modern – in which Christian Africa has impacted the shape of Christian belief from the beginning of the movement up to the present day.” — back cover

The final chapter ‘Contemporary African Christian thought and homosexuality’ is particularly pertinent to developments taking place across the world Church today, identifying two trajectories of thought on the issue in African Christian thought, and observing that its perspective on the role of the Bible and its authority figures highly in these debates.

If you would like to see this book for yourself, its classmark is 230.06 NGO. You will find all our books on African theology in the section 230.06, so feel free to come and browse them.

Ruth MacLean

Purchases

Emily Dunn (2015) Lightning from the East : heterodoxy and Christianity in contemporary China (Religion in Chinese Societies series) Brill

David Tonghou Ngong, editor (2017) A new history of African Christian thought : from Cape to Cairo Routledge

Ian Johnson (2017) The souls of China : the return of religion after Mao Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books

Harold T. Lewis (2007) A church for the future : South Africa as the crucible for Anglicanism in a new century Church Publishing, an imprint of Church Publishing Incorporated, New York

We’ve been pleased to welcome through the doors of the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide in recent months a steady stream of visitors and other guests. These people use our resources, share with us news of their churches around the world, and enrich our common life. Here’s a highlight of some of our recent visitors.

A large group of representatives from several Anglican dioceses in Kenya visited the Centre on July 10. They were in Chelmsford Diocese as part of a long-standing companion relationship and visited the Centre to learn more about our work and our resources related to the history of the church in Kenya. The archive and library contain a significant amount of material related to the ministry of David Gitari, former bishop of the Diocese of Mount Kenya East and then archbishop of the Anglican Church of Kenya. The 14 Kenyan visitors all came from dioceses that have been carved out of the former Mount Kenya East. They appreciated looking at the papers related to Bishop Gitari’s ministry and listening to audio recordings of his sermons.

Appolinaire Hakizimana, the Anglican archdeacon of Gahini in Rwanda, visited the Centre in June for several days to consult the Centre’s extensive collection of material related to the East African Revival. This revival began in Gahini and the Centre’s archive includes the papers of Joe Church, the English missionary in Gahini who documented the beginning of the revival. The church in Gahini, which CCCW Director Jesse Zink visited in summer 2016, is currently working on creating a museum dedicated the East African Revival.

Clarence Devadass, the director of the Catholic Research Centre in Kuala Lumpur, has been in and out of the Centre in June and July as he works on a book about Christian mission in a minority context. Dr. Devadass is a priest of the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur and is spending an extended sabbatical in Cambridge.

These and other visitors enrich the daily life of the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide. Are you in Cambridge? Looking for a place to be based while on leave? We would love to hear from you.

A number of new purchases and donations were added to the library this month. Among these is Peter C. Phan (2017) The joy of religious pluralism: a personal journey Orbis Books. This long-awaited volume was written in response to Vatican concerns about his orthodoxy. The concerns were raised by his earlier book: (2004) Being religious interreligiously: Asian perspectives on interfaith dialogue Orbis Books. What do you think about the response that he gives? You could read the two books for yourself. You will find them at 261.2 PHA in our library.

261 is one of the larger sections in our library, looking at Christianity and culture. 261.2 looks more specifically at Christianity and other religions/religious pluralism. You can engage with the subject of religious pluralism and a Christian response to other religions by taking a look at our books in this section.

Ruth MacLean

Purchases

Mari-Anna Auvinen-Pontinen and Jonas Adelin Jorgensen (2016) Mission and money : Christian mission in the context of global inequalities (Theology and mission in world Christianity, volume 1) Brill

Peter C. Phan (2017) The joy of religious pluralism : a personal journey Orbis Books

Jason Mandryk (2015) Pray for the world : abridged from Operation World, 7th edition IVP Books

Kathleen L. Lodwick (2016) How Christianity came to China : a brief history Fortress Press

Paul Bradbury (2016) Stepping into grace : moving beyond ambition to contemplative mission The Bible Reading Fellowship

Robert L. Gallagher and Paul Hertig, editors (2017) Contemporary mission theology : engaging the nations : essays in honor of Charles E. Van Engen (American Society of Missiology series, no. 53) Orbis Books

Atola Longkumer, Jorgen Skov Sorensen and Michael Biehl, editors (2016) Mission and power : history, relevance and perils (Regnum Edinburgh Centenary Series, Volume 33) Regnum Books International

Corneliu Constantineanu, Marcel V. Macelaru, Anne-Marie Kool and Mihai Himcinschi (2016) Mission in Central and Eastern Europe : realities, perspectives, trends (Regnum Edinburgh Centenary Series, Volume 34) Regnum Books International

Kenneth R. Ross, Jooseop Keum, Kyriaki Avtzi and Roderick R. Hewitt (2016) Ecumenical missiology : changing landscapes and new conceptions of mission (Regnum Edinburgh Centenary Series, Volume 35) Regnum Books International

Richard Harvey (2010) Mapping Messianic Jewish theology Paternoster Press

Donations

Bernhard Kruger (1967) The pear tree blossoms : the history of the Moravian Church in South Africa 1737-1869 Genadendal, Gift of Professor John Iliffe

Shusaku Endo (1969,2016) Silence [now a major film by Martin Scorsese] Peter Owen, Gift of Jesse Zink

J.C. Winter (1979) Bruno Gutmann, 1876-1966 : a German approach to social anthropology Clarendon Press, Gift of Professor John Iliffe

Intercultural Encounter recipients prepare for summer travels

Seventeen Cambridge-area students are preparing to experience the life of a Christian community in another culture this summer thanks to support from the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide’s Intercultural Encounter programme.

The Centre provides bursaries and logistical advice to encourage young people to encounter the diversity of the global church for themselves and see Christianity through the eyes of others.

In 2017, 17 bursaries were awarded. Recipients will be travelling across the world, including to Ethiopia, Israel and Palestine, the Solomon Islands, Indonesia, Bahrain, Uganda, Jamaica, Barbados and many others. “Students” is understood broadly; the group includes current undergraduates as well as recent graduates, mature students in the Cambridge Theological Federation, medical students, and a number of ordinands.

The bursary recipients gathered earlier this month for an induction and training day, in which they considered the promise and possibilities of meeting people of faith from other cultures, as well as shared ideas on how best to approach this challenging and rewarding task. They also shared prayer requests for the summer ahead with one another.

The Henry Martyn Trust has been giving bursaries for overseas travel for over 30 years. The record number of bursaries this year reflects a commitment of the Trustees to expanding the Intercultural Encounter programme. As Christians in the 21st century, it is vital that students today have the confidence, experience, and humility to interact with their sisters and brothers in Christ in cross-cultural settings.

The Intercultural Encounter programme has two application rounds per year, in January and May. The CCCW welcomes inquiries from prospective applicants with some idea of where they want to spend time and those with no idea at all. More information is available on this website or by contacting the Encounter coordinator.