The Centre for the Study of World Christianity (CSWC) is a research centre based in New College, the School of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh. It was founded in the University of Aberdeen by Andrew F. Walls as the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World in 1982, but later moved by Walls to the University of Edinburgh in 1986. The Centre is currently directed by Brian Stanley.
The Centre promotes historical, theological, and social scientific research in the field of World Christianity – broadly speaking, Christianity in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Oceania, and eastern Europe, as well as diasporic forms of non-Western Christianity emerging in contexts such as Western Europe and North America. Closely related to the Centre is the peer-reviewed academic journal Studies in World Christianity, published three times a year. The Centre is one of the main sponsors of the Yale-Edinburgh Group on the History of the Missionary Movement and World Christianity, and maintains its own research archive.
Some notable books produced by scholars affiliated with the Centre include:
Adogame, Afeosemime U (2013). The African Christian Diaspora: New Currents and Emerging Trends in World Christianity. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1441188588.
Bediako, Kwame (1995). Christianity in Africa: The Renewal of a Non-Western Religion. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1570750489.
Cox, James L. (2014). The Invention of God in Indigenous Societies. Durham: Acumen. ISBN 978-1844657544.
Stanley, Brian (2009). The World Missionary Conference, Edinburgh 1910. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0802863607.
Stanley, Brian (2013). The Global Diffusion of Evangelicalism: The Age of Billy Graham and John Stott. Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press. ISBN 978-1844746217.
Walls, Andrew F. (1996). The Missionary Movement in Christian History: Studies in the Transmission of Faith. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books. ISBN 978-1570750595.
Walls, Andrew F. (2002). The Cross-Cultural Process in Christian History: Studies in the Transmission and Appropriation of Faith. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books. ISBN 978-1570753732.
As part of the School of Divinity, it offers a one-year MTh teaching program and a PhD research degree producing, by the first decade of the twenty first century, 129 MTh and 65 PhD theses. Some of the Centre's notable alumni include:
Siga Arles, Director of the Centre for Contemporary Christianity, Bangalore, India
Kwame Bediako, Former rector for the Afroki-Christaller Institute for Theology, Mission and Culture, Akropong, Ghana
Jonathan Bonk, Executive Director Emeritus of the Overseas Ministries Study Center in New Haven, Connecticut
James L. Cox, Honorary Professorial Fellow of Religious Studies, School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh
Edward Fasholé-Luke, Professor, Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone
Jehu Hanciles, Associate Professor of History of Christianity and Globalization, Fuller Theological Seminary
Jooseop Kim, Secretary, Council for World Mission and Evangelism, World Council of Churches
Esther Mombo, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, St. Paul's University, Limuru, Kenya
Cyril Okorocha, Anglican Bishop of Owerri Diocese in Nigeria
David A. Shank, Founder of Group for Religious and Biblical Studies, Blokhosso-Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire
Diane Stinton, Dean of Students and Associate Professor of Mission Studies, Regent College, Vancouver
Godwin Tasie, Professor of Church History, University of Jos
Timothy Tennent, President of Asbury Theological Seminary
