World Christianity

World Christianity

episodes

Interviews with scholars of World Christianity about their new books.

Gwyn McClelland, "Dangerous Memory in Nagasaki: Prayers, Protests and Catholic Survivor Narratives" (Routledge, 2019)

February 19, 2024

Dangerous Memory in Nagasaki

Gwyn McClelland
Hosted by Takeshi Morisato

On 9th August 1945, the US dropped the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Of the dead, approximately 8500 were Catholic Christians, representing over six…

Daniel Soars, "The World and God Are Not-Two: A Hindu-Christian Conversation" (Fordham UP, 2022)

December 28, 2023

The World and God Are Not-Two

Daniel Soars
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

The World and God Are Not-Two: A Hindu-Christian Conversation (Fordham UP, 2022) is a book about how the God in whom Christians believe ought to be un…

Between Jesus and Krishna: Christian Encounters with South Indian Temple Dance

December 15, 2023

Between Jesus and Krishna

Stine Simonsen Puri

One of the eight national dances of India, bharatanatyam, partly originates from the area around Tranquebar. During the time that Tranquebar was a Dan…

J. Christopher Edwards, "Crucified: The Christian Invention of the Jewish Executioners of Jesus" (Fortress Press, 2023)

December 2, 2023

Crucified

J. Christopher Edwards
Hosted by Zalman Newfield

In his book Crucified: The Christian Invention of the Jewish Executioners of Jesus (Fortress Press, 2023), J. Christopher Edwards explores the early C…

Briana L. Wong, "Cambodian Evangelicalism: Cosmological Hope and Diasporic Resilience" (Pennsylvania State UP, 2023)

November 15, 2023

Cambodian Evangelicalism

Briana L. Wong
Hosted by Byung Ho Choi

The Cambodian Civil War and genocide of the late 1960s and ’70s left the country and its diaspora with long-lasting trauma that continues to reverbera…

Ji Li, "At the Frontier of God's Empire: A Missionary Odyssey in Modern China" (Oxford UP, 2023)

October 22, 2023

At the Frontier of God's Empire

Ji Li
Hosted by Shu Wan

To a lively cast of international players that shaped Manchuria during the early twentieth century, At the Frontier of God's Empire: A Missionary Odys…

Gina A. Zurlo, "Women in World Christianity: Building and Sustaining a Global Movement" (Wiley-Blackwell, 2023)

October 16, 2023

Women in World Christianity

Gina A. Zurlo
Hosted by Byung Ho Choi
Listen:

Gina A. Zurlo's book Women in World Christianity: Building and Sustaining a Global Movement (Wiley-Blackwell, 2023) is the first textbook to focus on …

L. M. Ratnapalan, "Robert Louis Stevenson and the Pacific: The Transformation of Global Christianity" (Edinburgh UP, 2023)

September 9, 2023

Robert Louis Stevenson and the Pacific

L. M. Ratnapalan
Hosted by Joseph Gaines

How does Robert Louis Stevenson’s engagement with Pacific Islands cultures demonstrate processes of inculturation and the transformation of global C…

Kerry P. C. San Chirico. "Between Hindu and Christian: Khrist Bhaktas, Catholics, and the Negotiation of Devotion in Banaras" (Oxford UP, 2022)

September 7, 2023

Between Hindu and Christian

Kerry P. C. San Chirico
Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Listen:

On the second Saturday of each month, on the outskirts of the ancient city of Varanasi, Shiva's own city, thousands of shudra and Dalit devotees worsh…

Andrew Johnson, "If I Give My Soul: Faith Behind Bars in Rio de Janeiro" (Oxford UP, 2017)

August 16, 2023

If I Give My Soul

Andrew Johnson
Hosted by Ethan Fredrick
Listen:

Pentecostal Christianity is flourishing inside the prisons of Rio de Janeiro. To find out why, Andrew Johnson dug deep into the prisons themselves. He…

Michèle Miller Sigg, "Birthing Revival: Women and Mission in Nineteenth-Century France" (Baylor UP, 2022)

August 5, 2023

Birthing Revival

Michèle Miller Sigg
Hosted by Byung Ho Choi

The nineteenth century witnessed a flurry of evangelical and missionary activity in Europe and North America. This was an era of renewed piety and int…

Stephen C. Taysom, "Like a Fiery Meteor: The Life of Joseph F. Smith" (U of Utah Press, 2023)

July 28, 2023

Like a Fiery Meteor

Stephen C. Taysom
Hosted by Joseph Stuart
Listen:

Joseph F. Smith was born in 1838 to Hyrum Smith and Mary Fielding Smith. Six years later both his father and his uncle, Joseph Smith Jr., the founding…

Scott E. Simon, "Truly Human: Indigeneity and Indigenous Resurgence on Formosa" (U Toronto Press, 2023)

July 20, 2023

Truly Human

Scott E. Simon
Hosted by Anthony Kao
Listen:

Similar to countries like the US and Canada, Taiwan also has indigenous peoples who've existed before the arrival of colonizers, and continue to grapp…

Sofia Samatar, "The White Mosque: A Memoir" (Catapult, 2022)

June 22, 2023

The White Mosque

Sofia Samatar
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
Listen:

In the late 19th century, a group of Mennonites leave Russia for what is now Uzbekistan. Driven out by Russian demands that the pacifist group make th…

Alexandra Kaloyanides, "Baptizing Burma: Religious Change in the Last Buddhist Kingdom" (Columbia UP, 2023)

June 19, 2023

Baptizing Burma

Alexandra Kaloyanides

In July 1813, a young American couple from Boston arrived in the Buddhist kingdom of Burma to preach the gospel. Although Burmese Buddhists largely r…

Raúl E. Zegarra Medina, "A Revolutionary Faith: Liberation Theology Between Public Religion and Public Reason" (Stanford UP, 2023)

May 27, 2023

A Revolutionary Faith

Raúl E. Zegarra Medina
Hosted by Adrian Guiu

Religious commitments can be a powerful engine for progressive social change. In A Revolutionary Faith: Liberation Theology Between Public Religion an…

Garrett L. Washington, "Church Space and the Capital in Prewar Japan" (U Hawaii Press, 2022)

May 16, 2023

Church Space and the Capital in Prewar Japan

Garrett L. Washington
Hosted by Nathan Hopson

Garrett Washington’s Church Space and the Capital in Prewar Japan (Hawai’i 2022) brings a fresh perspective to the question of Protestant Christianity…

Sebanti Chatterjee, "Choral Voices: Ethnographic Imaginations of Sound and Sacrality" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

May 14, 2023

Choral Voices

Sebanti Chatterjee

Sebanti Chatterjee's book Choral Voices: Ethnographic Imaginations of Sound and Sacrality (Bloomsbury, 2023) is about sacred and secular choirs in Goa…

Francis Xavier Clooney, "Saint Joseph in South India: Poetry, Mission and Theology in Costanzo Gioseffo Beschi's Tēmpāvaṇi" (Publications of the De Nobili Research Library vol. xxxix, 2022)

May 4, 2023

Saint Joseph in South India

Francis Xavier Clooney
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Costanzo Gioseffo Beschi was an Italian Jesuit who worked in South India from 1710 to 1747. A brilliant scholar of Tamil, his works include hymns, ins…

Chandra Mallampalli, "South Asia's Christians: Between Hindu and Muslim" (Oxford UP, 2023)

May 1, 2023

South Asia's Christians

Chandra Mallampalli
Hosted by Byung Ho Choi

South Asia is home to more than a billion Hindus and half a billion Muslims. But the region is also home to substantial Christian communities, some da…