Dr. Dana L. Robert to Deliver 2020 Convocation Address at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
August 25, 2020
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary will welcome Dr. Dana L. Robert as its keynote speaker for the 2020 Academic Convocation on Wednesday, September 9, 2020. Robert is the Truman Collins professor of world Christianity and history of mission and the director of the Center for Global Christianity and Mission at the School of Theology at Boston University. This year’s convocation will take place virtually via Zoom beginning at 4:00 p.m. (CDT).
Robert’s address is titled, “The Promise of Fractured Fellowship: Lessons from 1920.” The lecture will explore how a century ago, in the wake of world war, the flu pandemic, and the ongoing injustice of colonialism, Protestants pursued friendship and fellowship. Widespread destruction made urgent the pursuit of unity. The fractured fellowship of 1920, and efforts to overcome it, provides relevant insights for 2020.
Robert’s research and teaching interests span mission history, world Christianity, and mission theology. An editor of the journal Church History, during 2016-2017 she was a Henry Luce III Fellow in Theology, and Senior Research Fellow at the Leibniz Institute of European History in Mainz, Germany. She is a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2017, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Missiology.
Her books include Faithful Friendships: Embracing Diversity in Christian Community (2019); African Christian Biography: Stories, Lives, and Challenges (2018); Joy to the World!: Mission in the Age of Global Christianity (2010); Christian Mission: How Christianity Became a World Religion (2009, now in its twelfth printing); Converting Colonialism: Visions and Realities in Mission History, 1706-1914 (2008); Christianity: A Social and Cultural History (co-author, 1997), and the now classic American Women in Mission: A Social History of Their Thought and Practice (1997). She is on the Editorial Committee for the award-winning digital humanities project Dictionary of African Christian Biography (www.dacb.org) and the Journal of African Christian Biography.
An active lay United Methodist, in 2019 she spoke at the 150th anniversary of the United Methodist Women. In addition to the School of Theology, she is a faculty member in African Studies and the Graduate Division of Religious Studies at Boston University. Robert received her bachelor of arts from Louisiana State University and her master of arts, master of philosophy, and doctor of philosophy from Yale University.
All are welcome to attend this year’s virtual convocation but registration is required. The Zoom link will be emailed to all participants the morning of September 9. At the request of the keynote speaker, this presentation will not be recorded or available for viewing at a later date.