We will be closed on Good Friday and Easter Monday (29th March and 1st April). 

We wish you a very blessed Easter!

CCCW Talk: Tuesday 12th March 2024, 4:00-5:30 pm GMT
Room 7, Faculty of Divinity, 25 West Road, Cambridge, CB3 9DP
Followed by refreshments

Title: “From Sacred Canopy to Ethnic Umbrellas: Re-Thinking the Future of Christianity in Ethiopian Politics”

Abstract: Ethiopian Christianity has long been in the forefront of social innovation. Creating a unifying national story which eventually became a source of social covenant is one of its cultural inventions. The Ethiopianness constructed through a theologically informed exceptionalism depicted the Ethiopian state as a “sacred canopy” elastic enough to accommodate ethnic and religious diversity.  This presentation sets out to ask: Where does the transition of national conception from a “sacred canopy” to multi-ethnic umbrellas leave the church? How do the emergent political dynamics affect Christianity’s position in society? What are the potential ways Christianity can make a positive contribution for peaceful cohabitation in a conflict-ridden country?

Bio: Mohammed Girma is Tutor and Senior Research Fellow at IBAC, British Bible Society and Visiting Lecturer at University of Roehampton, London. Girma is the author of Understanding Religion and Social Change in Ethiopia (Palgrave, 2012) and editor and co-editor of three books including The Healing of Memories: African Christian Response to Politically Induced Trauma (2018). Girma has authored numerous book chapters and peer-reviewed articles in academic journals.

CCCW Talk: Tuesday 20th February, 4pm–5.30pm.

Title: “Christ in Islamic Clothes: Evangelicals and the Saga of Muslim Contextualization”

Abstract: During the 1970s, as evangelicals applied anthropology to the task of evangelising the world’s cultures, striking proposals were made at Fuller Theological Seminary for how Christianity might be expressed in Muslim terms. Bold mission-field collaborations followed in South and Southeast Asia over the next two decades, in which mosque prayers and Muslim festivals became reworked around Christ for converts, and new Bibles were translated that incorporated Quranic language and style. In many cases, new believers were encouraged to retain their Muslim identity, which led to a large “insider movement” in Bangladesh. Somewhat controversial from the outset, Muslim contextualization became publicly contested by the turn of millennium, as evangelical fears of “syncretism” with Islam emerged. By 2011, tensions had converged on the issue of Muslim-oriented Bibles which contained non-literal renderings of “Son of God”. So acute was the crisis that it was only resolved when Wycliffe-SIL, the world’s largest Bible translation organisation, submitted its policies to the verdict of global evangelical tribunal.

Bio: Christian J. Anderson is a PhD candidate in Cambridge’s Divinity Faculty, where he works on the theology and history of evangelical encounters with Islam. His thesis is the first full-length account of a decades-long American evangelical missionary controversy over Muslim-style churches and Bible translations. His research has appeared in the journals Studies in World Christianity, Exchange and Mission Studies.

The Centre for Research in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CRASSH) at the University of Cambridge, together with the Cambridge Faculty of Divinity and the Cambridge Interfaith Programme are inviting applications for funded Visiting Fellowships for Scholars from the Global South.

Applications are invited from scholars whose research is connected to the theme of inter-religious relations, with a particular focus on religious boundary-making.

For further details and instructions on how to apply, see: https://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/research/fellowships/global-south-fellowships/#

The Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide is looking for an enthusiastic and experienced administrator to join our team as the Centre Coordinator.

Vacancy type: Part-time, fixed contract for 12 months, renewable
Hours: 18 hours a week
Start Date: 01 April 2024
Location: CCCW, Westminster College, Madingley Rd, Cambridge CB3 0AA

Full job advertisement available here. Further information and a full job description are available on request. A complete application consists of a CV and a cover letter with the names of two referees. Application material should be emailed to Mrs Rachel Simonson: centre[at]cccw.cam.ac.uk

Closing date for applications is 29 February 2024.
Interviews in Cambridge during the week beginning 5 March 2024.

2024 CCCW Day Lecture

Join us for an enlightening lecture on “Health in World Christianity: Towards a History of Healing in African Christianity in the 20th Century” by Professor Emma Wild-Wood.

Date: Thursday, January 25, 2024

Time: 4:00-5:30 pm GMT

Venue: Runcie Room, Faculty of Divinity

For more information, go at 2024 CCCW Day Lecture.

Date: Friday, January 12, 2024
Time: 2:00 PM
Venue: Westminster College, Cambridge

Join us for a captivating exploration into the intersection of religion and Commonwealth values at our upcoming event, hosted by The Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide and The Round Table: the Commonwealth Journal of International Relations.

More info here: Religion and Commonwealth Values: a panel discussion – Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide

By Dr Hugh Morrison

CCCW-DIVFAC SEMINARS 2023-2024

28 November 2023, 4-5.30pm, Runcie Room, Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge

This paper marks a reflective end point for a project focused on the historical lives of British-world Protestant missionaries’ children, from the 1870s to the 1950s. While large in number, their voices were seldom heard and their lives until recently largely untold. This current study takes a more broadly comparative approach (using Scottish and New Zealand Presbyterianism as examples), focusing particularly on the early twentieth century. As such it utilises a range of published and unpublished sources, including oral history and written memoirs.

More information here.

By Dr Heike Raphael-Hernandez

CCCW-DIVFAC SEMINARS 2023-2024

21 November 2023, 4-5.30pm, Lightfoot Room, Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge

The talk will focus on the complex and, at times, contradictory encounters of Moravian missionaries, a Protestant group from Saxony, with enslaved Africans. The early period of Moravian missionary presence—between the 1730s and 1760s—differed from subsequent periods because later periods lost the original attempts to establish spiritual equality. A close reading of the various documents allows one to detect forms of active protest and creative agency on the part of enslaved people that were fostered, wittingly or unwittingly, by the Moravian missionaries.

More information here.