Honoring the memory of world Christianity expert Lamin Sanneh
Sanneh was a rigorous polymath who cared about not only theoretical work but the everyday lives of those who believe.
(RNS) — Lamin Sanneh, D. Willis James Professor of Missions and World Christianity at Yale Divinity School, died unexpectedly from a stroke on Sunday (Jan. 6). He was 76.
In the words of Simeon llesanmi, “An African Academic Elephant has indeed fallen”— meaning that a great individual has died.
Sanneh’s scholarly contributions spanned more than 20 books as author and editor, and over 200 scholarly articles through the course of 40-plus years of academic scholarship on four continents. He represents a particular kind of scholar that is hard to come by in today’s academy: a rigorous polymath who cared about not only the theoretical work of theology and history but the everyday lives of those who believe.
