» The Future of Christianity Conference (2003)
The Future of Christianity: Emerging Trends in the Twenty-First Century
Note: This page represents and archive of the 2003 conference materials.
September 19-20, 2003
Manresa Center of Saint Louis University
What lies ahead for twenty-first century Christians? What sort of relationships will they have with one another? Will they preserve their current identities as members of separate - and often competing - groups? Or will they be able to preserve their traditions and yet establish vital links with those outside their respective groups?
These questions will be the focus of a two-day conference featuring four outstanding scholars with specialized knowledge of African Christianity, Roman Catholic missions, Japanese Christianity, and Latino religions in the United States.
Christian leaders and laypeople from the St. Louis region are urged to participate in this gathering, which is intended as a step toward the establishment of the Institute for World Christianity (IWC) Ñ an international center for Christian community and scholarship in the city of St. Louis.
Conference Audio
Friday, Sept. 19
- 6:00 - 7:45 p.m. - Dinner and Talk by Lamin Sanneh
- 7:45 - 8:00 p.m. - Brief Overview of the Institute for World Christianity
- 8:15 - 9:30 p.m. - Talk by Angelyn Dries
Saturday, Sept. 20
- 8:15 - 9:30 a.m. - Talk by Nelson Jennings
- 9:30 - 10:45 a.m. - Talk by Gaston Espinosa
- 10:45 - 11:00 a.m. - Prayer (led by several participants)
- 11:15 - 12:30 a.m. - Panel Discussion
Conference Speakers
ANGELYN DRIES holds the Danforth Chair
in the Department of
Theological Studies at Saint
Louis University. She is a
Franciscan sister, was Chair
of the Theology Department
at Cardinal Stritch University,
and served among Korean-
American Catholics in
Milwaukee for ten years. She
is the author of a major work on U. S. Roman
Catholic missions, The Missionary Movement in
American Catholic History (1998), and is
coeditor of Prayer and Practice in the American Catholic Community (2000).
GASTÓN ESPINOSA is the Andrew W.
Mellon Postdoctoral Faculty
Fellow at Northwestern
University. He holds masters
degrees from Princeton
Seminary and Harvard
University and a Ph.D. from
the University of California
at Santa Barbara. He has held
appointments at Westmont College, the
University of California, Santa Barbara,
Dartmouth College, and Northwestern University. Espinosa is the author, co-editor, or co-author of Latino
Religions and Social Activism in the United States (2004),
Latino Religions and Politics in American Public Life
(2005), and Brown Moses: Francisco Olazábal and Latino
Pentecostal Charisma, Power, and Faith-Healing in the
Borderlands (2005). He recently completed the $1.3 million
Hispanic Churches and American Public Life research project
on Latino religions and politics (www.hcapl.org). The
Generations Center of Princeton named him one of the
nation's outstanding one hundred men of color.
NELSON JENNINGS is Associate Professor
of World Mission at
Covenant Theological
Seminary in St. Louis. He
was educated at Vanderbilt
University and Covenant
Seminary, and received his
Ph.D. from Edinburgh
University in Christianity in
the Non-Western World. He has published many
articles and co-wrote (with Hisakazu Inagaki)
Philosophical Theology in East-West Dialogue
(2000). An ordained minister of the Presbyterian
Church in America (PCA), he has a decade of
experience as a missionary in Japan.
MICHAEL MCCLYMOND holds the
Steber Chair in Theological
Studies at Saint Louis
University. He was educated
at Northwestern University,
Yale University, and the
University of Chicago, and
previously held appointments
at Wheaton College,
Westmont College, University of California San
Diego, and Emory University. He is the author,
editor, or co-editor of Encounters With God: An
Approach to the Theology of Jonathan Edwards
(1998), The Rivers of Paradise: Moses, Buddha,
Confucius, Jesus, and Muhammad as Religious
Founders (2001), Embodying the Spirit: New
Perspectives on North American Revivalism
(2004), Familiar Stranger: An Introduction to
Jesus of Nazareth (2004), Encyclopedia of
Religious Revivals in America (2005), and (with
Lamin Sanneh) Blackwell Companion to World Christianity (2005).
LAMIN SANNEH is the D. Willis James
Professor of Missions and
World Christianity and Professor
of History at Yale University. He
is author of over one hundred
articles and more than ten books,
including Translating the
Message: The Missionary Impact
on Culture (1989), Encountering
the West: Christianity and the
Global Cultural Process (1993), Piety and Power:
Muslims and Christians in West Africa (1996),
and Abolitionists Abroad: American Blacks and
the Making of Modern West Africa (2000). He
lectures throughout the world, and in honor of his
achievements, he was made Commandeur de
l'Ordre National du Lion - Senegal's highest
national honor. Sanneh began his life as a
Muslim, and today is a Roman Catholic layman.