Leading Scholars on World Christianity Come to Westmont

January 29, 2003

Yale University Professor Lamin Sanneh is one of two esteemed scholars scheduled to speak at Westmont this academic year in the college’s World Christianity Lecture Series, a new series sponsored by the college’s history and religious studies departments, among others.

Sanneh, the D. Willis James professor of Missions and World Christianity at Yale Divinity School, with a concurrent appointment as professor of history at Yale College, will appear at several events Oct. 3 and 4.

On Jan. 29 and 30, 2003, the series will feature Andrew Walls, founder of the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World at the University of Edinburgh.

The series begins with Sanneh’s public lecture, “Christianity as a World Religion: Lessons for Globalization,” 7 p.m. Oct. 3 at First Presbyterian Church.

At 4 p.m. Oct. 4, in Westmont’s Porter Theatre, Sanneh will join Westmont Religious Studies Professor Jonathan Wilson; Wade Clark Roof, the chair of the religious studies department at UCSB; and UCSB History Professor Nancy Gallagher in a panel discussion, “Tolerance and Militancy in Contemporary Islam and Christianity.” Both events are free and open to the public.

A naturalized U.S. citizen, Sanneh is descended from the nyanchos, an ancient African royal house, and has been educated on four continents. After arriving in the United States on a U.S. government scholarship to read history, he spent several years studying classical Arabic and Islam, including a stint in the Middle East.

He received his Ph.D. in Islamic history from the University of London and was a professor at Harvard University before moving to Yale. Sanneh is the author of several books and over 100 articles on religious and historical subjects. For his academic work he was made Commandeur de l’Ordre National du Lion, Senegal’s highest national honor.

For more information, contact the office of public affairs at (805) 565-7057 or pubaffairs@westmont.edu