Biographical Information:
Jehu J. Hanciles, who was born in Sierra Leone, is associate professor of history of Christianity and globalization and director of the Center for Missiological Research (CMR). He came to Fuller as a scholar with Fuller’s Global Research Institute in 1998, and joined the faculty full-time in 2000 after serving in an adjunct capacity. The CMR, newly founded in 2009, houses the PhD program in the School of Intercultural Studies and aims to promote collaborative research among Western and non-Western scholars on emerging missiological issues. The Global Research Institute, which Hanciles directed for almost 9 years, has become a part of the CMR as a postdoctoral fellowship program.
A significant component of Dr. Hanciles’ teaching and research focuses on the history, experiences, and expressions of Christianity in the non-Western world. He also has a strong scholarly interest in studies related to the new global context in which Christianity finds itself at the dawn of the new millennium, with newly emerging frontiers, a need for new forms of Christian missionary engagement, and new ways of dealing with old questions. Hanciles’s current research is focused on the interconnection between globalization, migration, and religious expansion: specifically, the ways in which South-North migratory flows provide the structure and impetus for a full-fledged missionary movement from global Christianity’s new heartlands in the non-Western world.
Hanciles has lived and worked in Sierra Leone, Scotland, Zimbabwe, and the U.S. He has written and published books and articles mainly on issues related to mission and globalization as well as African Christianity. Recent publications include Beyond Christendom: Globalization, African Migration, and the Transformation of the West (Orbis, 2008), Euthanasia of a Mission: African Church Autonomy in a Colonial Context (Praeger, 2002), “Missionaries and Revolutionaries: Elements of Transformation in the Emergence of Modern African Christianity” in the International Bulletin of Missionary Research, and “Go to a Land I will Show You: African Migrants and Christian Mission” in Der uberblick. He was born and raised Anglican, but has been connected or involved with a variety of Christian traditions over the past 15 years.
Courses Taught:
MH500- Global Evangelical Movement
MH505- Issues in the History of Christian Mission
MD542- Globalization and Mission
MM545- Immigration, Religion, and American Culture
MT525- Non-Western Biblical Interpretation
Areas of Expertise, Research, Writing, and Teaching:
Mission history, globalization, and African Christianity