Prof. Daniels links Black Church to Christianity’s globalization

12-09-2010

By Geoff Ashmun

McCormick professor of church history part of Pentecostal delegation to Edinburgh 2010

In his plenary address at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary’s December 10-12 Shoemaker Conference - Proclamation & Presence: Learning from the Global Church 1910-2010, Dr. David Daniels, Professor of History at McCormick Theological Seminary, will shed light on the Black Church’s role in the globalization of Christianity in the 20th century.

Daniels’ presentation, “Honey in the Rock: The Global Witness of the Black Church, 1910-2010," lifts up the Black Church – defined here as African American Christianity – as the major non-European expression of the faith in the United States institutionally, theologically and missionally. Daniels suggests that the Black Church anticipated Christianity’s shift to the global south by becoming the first major non-European expression of the faith to gain recognition and acceptance in the West.

“There were other non-European expressions of Christianity arising elsewhere such as the Coptic Church or in Asian Orthodoxy, but the difference is that the Black Church was missionary in nature and went global in the 20th century,” -Daniels

The Shoemaker Conference is one of many events looking toward Edinburgh 2010, an ecumenical, invitation-only gathering from June 2 to 6, which commemorates the 1910 World Missionary Conference and explores new perspectives on mission for the 21st century. Organized and hosted by the Edinburgh 2010 General Council, the event seeks to draw 60 percent of its 250 attendees from the global south, 50 percent women, and 20 percent under the age of 30. A widely recognized scholar of Christian history and Pentecostalism, Dr. Daniels will be part of a Pentecostal delegation to Edinburgh 2010. He was recently honored at the Church of God in Christ’s 2009 Convocation in Memphis, Tennessee, by being awarded a Presiding Bishop’s Medal of Honor for his contribution to theological education as well being named Chair of the denomination’s Board of Education.

A full biography of Dr. David Daniels can be found at /instructor/david-daniels-iii. For more information on the Shoemaker Conference at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, visit http://www.pts.edu