CALL FOR PAPERS: African Christian Biography: Narratives, Beliefs, and Boundaries

October 29-31, 2015. Boston, Massachusetts. Sponsored by the Dictionary of African Christian Biography; the Center for Global Christianity and Mission, the African Studies Center, and the African Studies Library, Boston University. Keynote Speaker: Professor Lamin Sanneh, Yale University. Hosts: Professors Dana L. Robert, Jonathan Bonk, and M.L. Daneel, Boston University.

The writing of biography has become a major form of documentation for the growing world Christian movement. The purpose of this conference is to reflect upon the progress made by the first twenty years of the Dictionary of African Christian Biography, the award-winning web-based documentation project founded in 1995, and to identify new directions in the use of biography and autobiography for the study of African Christianity. The goal of the conference is to produce an edited volume.

For those giving papers, travel and participation will be subsidized by the Center for Global Christianity and Mission at the Boston University School of Theology. The African Studies Library at Boston University will host a reception and special exhibits on the scholarship of African Christianity.

Requested paper topics include the following:
• Narrative as history in the documentation of African Christianity
• Biographies of African Christians
• Multiple religious belonging in African church history
• Women, gender, and the growth of African Christianity
• Political and social dimensions of African Christian biography
• Autobiography as history: possibilities and limitations
• Hagiography as a tool for understanding African society, culture, and theology
• Biographical research and writing: cultural and legal constraints on the research, use and interpretation of biography
• African biography in World Christianity

Please send a one page description of the proposed topic and a brief vita to Ms. Michele Sigg, Project Manager, Dictionary of African Christian Biography by Friday February 27, 2015. Email: [email protected]

Mailing address:
African Christian Biography Conference
Center for Global Christianity and Mission
Boston University School of Theology
745 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215