Relocating World Christianity: Interdisciplinary Studies in Universal and Local Expressions of the Christian Faith

Existing scholarship on World Christianities tends to privilege the local and the regional. In addition to offering an explanation for this tendency, the editors and contributors of this volume also offer a new perspective. An Introduction, Afterword and case-studies argue for the importance of transregional connections in the study of Christianity worldwide. Returning to an older post-war conception of ‘World Christianity’ as an international, ecumenical fellowship, the present volume aims to 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.

Contributors are: J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, Naures Atto, Joel Cabrita, Pedro Feitoza, David C. Kirkpatrick, Chandra Mallampalli, David Maxwell, Dorottya Nagy, Peter C. Phan, Andrew Preston, Joel Robbins, Chloe Starr, Charlotte Walker-Said, Emma Wild-Wood.

Joel Cabrita, Ph.D. 2008, University of Cambridge, is a University Lecturer in World Christianities in the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Cambridge. Her first book was a history of the production, use and reception of sacred texts Text and Authority in a South African Church (Cambridge University Press, 2012).

David Maxwell D.Phil. 1994, University of Oxford is Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Fellow of Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge. With Patrick Harries he co-edited The Spiritual in the Secular. Missionaries and Knowledge about Africa (2012).

Emma Wild-Wood, Ph.D. 2005, University of Edinburgh, directs the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide and teaches in the Faculty of Divinity. She wrote Migration and Christian Identity in Congo (2008) and co-edited with Kevin Ward The East African Revival (2012).