Lecture Series Reveals Christianity on a Global Scale

Westmont will focus on the global presence of Christianity by hosting speakers from India and West Papua, Indonesia, this October. The college launched the lecture series, World Christianity and Global Encounters of the 21st Century, in 2002. The goal is to learn how Christian movements affect relationships between rival ethnic and religious groups in the non-Western world.

Professor Daniel Jeyaraj will speak Thursday, Oct. 6, at 3:30 p.m. in Hieronymus Lounge. His lecture is entitled: “The Protestant Reformation and India, 1700-1850.” Jeyaraj is an associate professor of world Christianity at Andover Newton Theological School in Massachusetts. His research has focused on Christian missions and their interaction with native cultures. He became a Christian in 1980 over the objections of family and friends in India and offers an inspiring Eastern perspective of Christian missions and their history. He is an authority on the emergence of Protestant churches in India during the 18th century. He has earned doctoral degrees in historical theology and mission and religious studies at Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg, German as well as in German studies at the University of Mumbai in Bombay.

Professor Benny Giay will speak Monday, Oct. 3, at 12 p.m., in Founders Dining Room. His lecture is entitled: “The Role of the Church in the Human Rights Struggle in West Papua.” Giay founded Walter Post Theological College in West Papua where he is a professor. He comes from the Me people of West Papua and earned his doctorate in anthropology and religion from the Free University, Amsterdam. He is an advocate of justice for human rights cases and has written several books on Papuan history and influential Papuan figures.

The lectures are free and open to the public. They’re sponsored by Westmont’s history and religious studies departments, the campus pastor’s office, the Erasmus Instititue and Westmont World Missions.