Dana L. Robert

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Dana Lee Robert is a historian of Christianity and a missiologist. [1] She is a professor at Boston University, where she has worked since 1984. She was the co-founder of the Center for Global Christianity and Mission in 2001, one of the first university-based Centers on World Christianity in North America. For years, Robert held the School of Theology's Truman Collins Professorship in World Christianity and History of Mission, [2] but in 2022 she was installed in the William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professorship, the highest distinction bestowed upon senior faculty members who remain actively involved in research, scholarship, teaching, and the University’s civic life.

Contents

Early life

Robert is a graduate of Louisiana State University (BA) and Yale University (MA, MPhil, and PhD). [3] In 1982 she became an instructor at Yale University, before moving on to Boston University. In Boston, she was assistant professor from 1984–90, associate professor from 1990–97, and became full professor in 1997.

Scholarship

In the early 1980s, Dana L. Robert became captivated by what she called "Comparative Christianity." [4] After completing her PhD at Yale University, she began teaching at Boston University where, over the following three decades, she helped build the field that is now known as World Christianity. Robert's scholarship has focused on the role of women in mission history, notably through her American Women in Mission (1997), [5] as well as the relationship between mission history and world Christianity more broadly. [6] She presently serves as one of the editors of the journal Church History. [7]

In 2010, Dana Robert delivered the keynote address at the Edinburgh 2010 Conference, which marked the centennial of the World Missionary Conference of 1910, speaking on “Witnessing to Christ Today: Mission and Unity in the 'Long View' from 1910 to the 21st Century.” [8] Robert has also given numerous other public lectures, including:

Honors

In 2017, Dana Robert received several honors in recognition of her contributions to history, theology, and religious studies. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. [16] The American Society of Missiology awarded her with the guild's Lifetime Achievement Award. [17] The Association of Theological Schools named her a Henry Luce III Fellow in Theology, [18] and she served as a senior research fellow at the Leibniz Institute of European History in Mainz, Germany. [19]

In 2021, a festschrift entitled Unlikely Friends: How God Uses Boundary-Crossing Friendships to Transform the World was published to honor her scholarship in the fields of missiology and world Christianity on boundary-crossing friendships. [20]

Publications

Selected books

Recent Essays and Articles

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. "Robert, Dana L. 1956- - Dictionary definition of Robert, Dana L. 1956- | Encyclopedia.com: FREE online dictionary". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2018-02-19.
  2. "Dana L. Robert » School of Theology | Blog Archive | Boston University". www.bu.edu. Retrieved 2018-02-19.
  3. "2017 Sprunt Lectures".
  4. Robert, Dana (2011). Historiographic Foundations from Latourette and Van Dusen to Andrew F. Walls. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books. p. 141.
  5. Robert, Dana (1997). American Women in Mission: A Social History of Their Thought and Practice.(Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1997). Macon, GA: Mercer University Press.
  6. Robert, Dana (2009). Christian Mission: How Christianity Became a World Religion. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
  7. "Editorial board". Cambridge Core. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  8. "Dana Robert calls for common witness to Christ despite divisions". Edinburgh2010.org. 3 June 2010. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
  9. "Henry Martyn Lectures". Cambridge Center for Christianity Worldwide.
  10. "2011 Woolsey Lectures". houghton.edu. Archived from the original on February 19, 2018. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
  11. "Wallace Chappell Lectures". The Foundation for Evangelism. Archived from the original on August 5, 2020. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
  12. "Augsberger Lecture Series". Eastern Mennonite University. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
  13. "Parchman Endowed Lectures". Baylor University. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
  14. "Yerxa Lecture Series". Eastern Nazarene College. 2016-03-02. Archived from the original on 2019-05-29. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
  15. "2017 Sprunt Lectures". Union Presbyterian Seminary. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
  16. "2017 FELLOWS AND FOREIGN HONORARY MEMBERS WITH THEIR AFFILIATIONS AT THE TIME OF ELECTION". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
  17. Adeney, Frances (2018). "ASM Life Time Achievement Award 2017: Dana L. Robert". Missiology. 46: 99–101. doi: 10.1177/0091829617746658 .
  18. "The Henry Luce III Fellows in Theology Program". Henry Luce Foundation. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
  19. "Dana L. Robert". Boston University School of Theology. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
  20. Unlikely friends : how God uses boundary-crossing friendships to transform the world. David W. Scott. [S.l.]: Pickwick Publications. 2021. ISBN   978-1-7252-8639-9. OCLC   1264072680.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)