Notes on Contributors
S. Wesley Ariarajah
is a Methodist minister from Sri Lanka and currently Professor Emeritus of Ecumenical Theology at the Drew University School of Theology, Madison, NJ. Before teaching at Drew for 17 years, he served the World Council of Churches, Geneva, for 16 years, first as the director of the Council’s Interfaith Dialogue Program for 10 years and later as the Council’s Deputy General Secretary. He has written widely on Religious Pluralism, Interfaith Relations, Theology of Religions, Dialogue and Mission, and Ecumenism. His latest publications include: Your God, My God, Our God. Rethinking Christian Theology for Religious Plurality (Geneva: WCC, 2012), and Strangers or Co-Pilgrims? The Impact of Interfaith Dialogue on Christian Faith and Practice (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2017).
Raimundo C. Barreto
is a Brazilian-American scholar teaching World Christianity in the History and Ecumenics Department at Princeton Theological Seminary. Among his activities in the field of World Christianity, he is one of the three conveners of the Princeton Theological Seminary World Christianity Conference, and the general editor of the Fortress Press Series ‘World Christianity and Public Religion.’ His latest publications include: World Christianity as Public Religion (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2017), co-edited with Wanderley P. da Rosa and Ronaldo Cavalcante, Evangélicos e Pobreza no Brazil. Encontros e Respostas Éticas, 2nd edition, revised and expanded (São Paulo: Editora Recriar/Editora Unida, 2019), Migration and Public Discourse in World Christianity (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2019), co-edited with Afe Adogame and Wanderley P. da Rosa, and Decolonial Christianities. Latinx and Latin American Perspectives (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2019), co-edited with Roberto Sirvent.
Christie Chui-Shan Chow
received her Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 2015. She is a visiting faculty at the City Seminary of New York. Her monograph entitled Schism. How Adventism is Reshaping Post-Denominational China (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, forthcoming) reflects her interest in church-state relations, conversion studies, Christian ethics, and gender politics. Her recent publications include ‘Qiuwen (Bibliomancy). Enlivening the Chinese Bible Union.’ Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 30,1 (2020), ‘Indigenizing the Prophetess. Toward a Chinese Denominational Practice.’ in Anthony E. Clark (ed.), China’s Christianity. From Missionary to Indigenous Church (Leiden: Brill, 2017), and (co-authored with Joseph Tse-Hei Lee) Chujing yu shiye. Chaoshan zhongwai jiaoliu di guangying jiyi [Context and Vision. Visualizing Chinese-Western Cultural Encounters in Chaoshan] (Beijing: Sanlian chubanshe, 2017).
Martha Frederiks
is Professor for the Study of World Christianity at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. From 1993–1999 she worked in West Africa in the field of Christian-Muslim Relations. Since 1999 she works at Utrecht University, where she obtained her Ph.D. (2003, cum laude) with her book We Have Toiled All Night. Christianity in The Gambia 1456–2000 (Zoetermeer: Boekencentrum, 2003). Current research interests include developments in African Christianity, religion and migration, and Christian-Muslim relations. Recent publications include: ‘Mission’ in Robert Segal and Kocku von Stuckrad (eds), Vocabulary for the Study of Religion (Leiden: Brill, 2017): 453–458, (with Dorottya Nagy) Religion, Migration, and Identity. Methodological and Theological Explorations (Leiden: Brill, 2017), and (with Dorottya Nagy) Critical Readings in the History of Christian Mission (Leiden: Brill forthcoming). Frederiks is a contributing editor of the series Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History (Leiden: Brill), co-editor of Studies in the Intercultural History of Christianity (Berlin: Lang Verlag) and with Lucien van Liere editor-in-chief of Exchange. Journal of Contemporary Christianities in Context (Brill: Leiden).
Paul J.J. van Geest
a philologist and theologian, is vice-dean of research of the Theological Faculty of Tilburg University (the Netherlands), full Professor of Church History and the History of Theology at the Tilburg University, and visiting professor at the Faculty of Theology of KU Leuven. He has published a dozen monographs, works for a wider audience, and numerous articles on the philosophy of Thomas a Kempis, late medieval nominalism, moral values in Early Christianity, and Augustine. His current research focuses on the role of fear and the pursuit of integrity in the first centuries of Christianity. Paul van Geest is editor of Late Antique History and Religion (Leuven: Peeters), Augustiniana (Leuven: Peeters), Brill Series of Church History (Leiden: Brill) and Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity (Leiden: Brill). He holds various executive positions in the world of education and is chairman of Christen Democratische Verkenningen, the magazine of the Dutch Christian Democratic Party (CDA).
Kari Storstein Haug
is Professor of Missiology at VID Specialized University, Stavanger-campus, in Norway. Between 1995 and 2003, she served as the Dean of Studies and Lecturer of Biblical Studies at Luther Seminary Thailand. Between 2003 and 2015 she worked at the School of Mission and Theology (MHS) in Norway. Since 2016, she works at VID Specialized University (a merger of several Norwegian schools and university colleges, including the former MHS). Current research interests include migration and theology, interreligious and intercultural hermeneutics, Christian faith and practice in contexts of religious and cultural diversity, Christianity and Buddhist-Christian encounters in Thailand. Her publications include Interpreting Proverbs 11:18–31, Psalm 73, and Ecclesiastes 9:1–12 in Light of, and as a Response to, Thai Buddhist Interpretations. A Contribution to Christian-Buddhist Dialogue (Leiden: Brill, 2012), ‘Possibilities and Limitations of Interreligious Scripture Reading. Some Reflections Based on Buddhist Readings of Old Testament Wisdom Texts.’ Mission Studies 31,2 (2014). Kirken i verden og verden i kirken. Globale perspektiver på trosopplæringen (The Church in the World and the World in the Church: Global Perspectives on Christian Education). (Stavanger: Hertervig Akademisk, 2016), together with T.S. Drønen, G. Skeie, and G.M. Ådna, ‘Migration in Missiological Research.’ International Review of Mission 107,1 (2018). She is one of the three editors of Norwegian Journal of Missiology.
Stanley John
is Associate Professor of Intercultural Studies at the Alliance Theological Seminary of Nyack College in Nyack, New York. He is a member of the Indian diaspora, born and raised in Kuwait. His research focuses on the intersection of transnational religion and global Pentecostalism in the context of World Christianity. He is the author of Transnational Organization and Practice of Faith. A Contextual Analysis of Kerala Pentecostal Churches in Kuwait (Leiden: Brill, 2018). He serves as pastor of Ridgeway Alliance Church in New Rochelle, New York.
Joseph Tse-Hei Lee
is Professor of History and Director of the Global Asia Institute at Pace University in New York City. He is author of The Bible and the Gun. Christianity in South China, 1860–1900 (New York: Routledge, 2003; Chinese edition, Beijing: Social Sciences Academic Press, 2010), and co-author with Christie Chui-Shan Chow of Chujing yu shiye. Chaoshan zhongwai jiaoliu di guangying jiyi [Context and Vision. Visualizing Chinese-Western Cultural Encounters in Chaoshan] (Beijing: Sanlian chubanshe, 2017). His co-edited works include The Church as Safe Haven. Christian Governance in China (Leiden: Brill, 2019), Christianizing South China. Mission, Development, and Identity in Modern Chaoshan (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), Hong Kong and Bollywood. Globalization of Asian Cinemas (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), China’s Rise to Power. Conceptions of State Governance (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), and Marginalization in China. Recasting Minority Politics (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009). His research focuses on the intersection of faith and politics in modern China.
Lucien van Liere
is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Utrecht University. His academic work explores the relationship between religion, representation, and violence. He has published on subjects ranging from the Ambon civil war and the place of Islam in secular politics to the future of religious studies and media-representations of violence. Among his recent publications are: (with Bob Becking and Anne-Marie Korte) Contesting Religious Identities (Leiden: Brill, 2017), ‘The Banality of Ghosts. Searching for Humanity with Joshua Oppenheimer in “The Act of Killing”.’ Journal for Religion, Film and Media (2018), and (with Elizabeth van Dis) ‘Post-War Reflections on the Ambon War.’ Exchange (2018). Together with Martha Frederiks he is editor-in-chief of Exchange, Journal of Contemporary Christianities in Context (Leiden: Brill).
Dorottya Nagy
is professor of Theology and Migration at the Protestant Theological University in Amsterdam (PThU), the Netherlands with research interests in migration, mission studies, Christianity in post-communist Europe, and innovative ways of theologizing. Awareness for responsible methodology lies at the heart of her academic interests. Her publications include Migration and Theology. The Case of Chinese Christian Communities in the Globalisation-Context (Zoetermeer: Boekencentrum, 2009), ‘Minding Methodology. Theology-Missiology and Migration Studies.’ in Frederiks and Nagy, Religion, Migration, and Identity (Leiden: Brill, 2016), and together with Gé Speelman ‘Conversion Controlled. Missiological Reflections on Assessing Conversions to Christianity among Asylum Seekers in the European Union.’ Theology 120,5 (2017). Nagy is president of the Central and Eastern European Association for Mission Studies (CEEAMS) and member of the editorial board of its journal. Nagy is an ordained Lutheran minister, is married and mother of two children.
Douglas Pratt
taught Religious Studies at the University of Waikato, New Zealand, for 30 years, retiring in mid-2018. He is currently Honorary Professor in the Theological and Religious Studies Programme of the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Theology, University of Bern, Switzerland. Pratt is a Research Team Leader and member of the editorial team for the University of Birmingham based international Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History (CMR) project and also co-editor of a volume of thematic essays in the CMR series (Leiden: Brill, 2020), covering the first millennium of interaction (600–1600 CE). His research interests include Christian-Muslim relations, interfaith dialogue, and contemporary issues in religion. He has recently published Religious Extremism. Rejecting Diversity (London: Bloomsbury 2018), Christian Engagement with Islam. Ecumenical Journeys since 1910 (Leiden: Brill, 2017), and Fear of Muslims? International Perspectives on Islamophobia (Heidelberg: Springer, 2016). His 2005 text The Challenge of Islam. Encounters in Interfaith Dialogue, has been reissued in the Routledge Revival Library (2017).
Emma Wild-Wood
is Senior Lecturer in African Christianity and African Indigenous Religions at the University of Edinburgh and teaches in the Centre for the Study of World Christianity where she studied for her doctorate. She has also taught in the University of Cambridge and directed the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide. Before that she taught in the north east of the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Uganda. She is author of Migration and Christian Identity in Congo (DRC) (Leiden: Brill, 2008), and has co-edited East African Revival. History and Legacies (Farnham: Ashgate, 2012) with Kevin Ward, Foundations for Mission with Peniel Rajkumar (Oxford: Regnum, 2013), Locating World Christianity. Interdisciplinary Studies of Local and Universal Expressions of the Christian Faith (Leiden: Brill, 2017) with Joel Cabrita and David Maxwell, and Ecumenism and Independency in World Christianity. Historical Studies in Honour of Brian Stanley with Alexander Chow (Leiden: Brill, 2020). Her most recent monograph is The Mission of Apolo Kivebulaya. Religious Encounter and Social Change in the Great Lakes (c.1865–1935) (Woodbridge: James Currey, 2020).
Corey L. Williams
(PhD, Edinburgh) is Chair of Religious Studies Programmes and Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Global Christianity at Leiden University, the Netherlands. He is also the General Secretary of the African Association for the Study of Religions and Co-Chair of the World Christianity Unit for the American Academy of Religion. His research and teaching interests include religion in contemporary Africa and the African Diaspora, anthropology of religion, interreligious encounters, migration and religious networks, and religion and public policy. His research has been awarded grants from the Lilly Foundation, American Academy of Religion, Yale University, and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His most recent publication is ‘Christianity and Multiple Identities.’ Studies in World Christianity 25:1 (2019), edited with Afe Adogame, and he is currently finalizing a monograph titled, A Spirit of Accommodation. The Politics of Religious Belonging and Identity in Contemporary Nigeria.