Leading Historian Returns to McCormick
12-01-2014
By K. Sawyer
Alum Paul Gundani (1989) returns to visit and lecture
Paul Gundani, Professor of History and Head of Graduate Studies and Research in the College of Human Sciences at the University of South Africa, returned to McCormick Seminary on November 24 to visit with friends and to offer a class lecture Monday evening. In the Midwest for the African Studies Association conference in Indianapolis, Gundani accepted the invitation of David Daniels to stopover in Chicago on his way back to South Africa
Gundani has been a good partner with McCormick Seminary for many years. Even before coming to Chicago, Gundani and others hosted McCormick exchange students in Zimbabwe in the 1980s. Among those who participated in this exchange program were Daniel Little (M.Div. 1990) and his future spouse Linda (an M.Div. graduate of LSTC). Gundani first came to McCormick as an exchange student from the University of Zimbabwe, and he obtaining an MATS degree in 1989. While at McCormick, Gundani made great use of the ACTS consortium, and he took coursework at CTS, CTU, and at the Lutheran School of Theology with Professor Jim Scherer. Following his degree program at McCormick, Gundani spent six months at Northwestern University, with special research in the Africana Studies Library. While in Evanston, Gundani had the great benefit of excellent housing: he lived in the home of theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether and her family.
Gundani's written work has included collaborative projects involving David Daniels, Luce Professor of World Christianity and Mission, and the late Ogbu Kalu, who taught at McCormick from 2001 until 2009 and who was the first to serve as Luce Professor. Gundani was slated to spend his sabbatical at McCormick Seminary in the fall of 2001, but the Zimbabwe economic crisis under President Robert Mugabe led to the scrapping of those plans, and also led to Gundani's openness to an invitation to join the faculty of the University of South Africa, where he has now served for a dozen years.
McCormick readers will note Gundani's name in a work he helped edit with Ogbu Kalu, African Christianity: An African Story. This work was designed to be a textbook for the African market, and has proven quite popular especially in seminaries in Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana.
During this McCormick visit, Gundani made special efforts to reach his former teachers and colleagues, including LSTC's Jim Scherer, McCormick's Ken Sawyer, and LSTC's Pete Pero. Years ago Pete Pero lectured in Zimbabwe at Gundani's invitation. Gundani mentioned the many ties of McCormick with effective church leadership in South and Central Africa.
Gundani is eager for McCormick to revive its exchange programs with African schools. "We are eager to welcome students to South Africa!"
