Professor Brian Stanley (MA PhD)
Professor of World Christianity

- School of Divinity
- Centre for the Study of World Christianity
Contact details
- Mobile: +44 (0)7460 183003
- Fax: +44 (0) 131 650 7952
- Email: Brian.Stanley@ed.ac.uk
Background
Brian Stanley read history at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and stayed on in Cambridge for his PhD on the place of missionary enthusiasm in Victorian religion. He has taught in theological colleges and universities in London, Bristol, and Cambridge, and from 1996 to 2001 was Director of the Currents in World Christianity Project in the University of Cambridge. He was a Fellow of St Edmund's College, Cambridge, from 1996 to 2008, and joined the University of Edinburgh in January 2009.
Professor Stanley has written or edited nine published books and numerous articles, mostly in the field of the history of Christian missions and world Christianity. His most recent book is Christianity in the Twentieth Century: A World History (Princeton University Press, 2018). He is currently working on two edited volumes: a collection of lectures by the late Professor Andrew F. Walls on the history of the missionary movement from the West (Wm. B. Eerdmans), and a multi-disciplinary collection on Christianity and Empire Revisited (Brill).
Qualifications
MA, PhD (Cantab.)
Responsibilities & affiliations
External appointments
Member of editorial board and former Editor, Studies in World Christianity (Edinburgh University Press).
Joint series editor, Studies in the History of Christian Missions (Wm. B. Eerdmans).
Member of editorial board, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Cambridge University Press.
Undergraduate teaching
I no longer teach undergraduate courses
Postgraduate teaching
I no longer teach at Masters level.
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
No
Areas of interest for supervision
As I will be retiring fully from the University in August 2023, I am no longer accepting new PhD students.
Current PhD students supervised
Christina Li, 'The varying responses of Protestant churches to social and political changes in Hong Kong, 1967-1997'
Dongjun Seo, 'Beyond Denominational Boundaries: An Investigation into the Nature, Extent, Characteristics, and Limitations of Commitment to Christian Unity among Evangelicals in South Korea, 1961-1994'
Victoria Turner, 'The Iona Community and the Council for World Mission'
Research summary
More information about research projects by Professor Stanley are available on his Edinburgh Research Explorer profile.
Current research interests
I continue to work on the history of Western Protestant missions and their reception by indigenous peoples. I have particular interests in the complex relationships between Christian missions, race, and imperialism.Affiliated research centres
-
The international missionary council: A centennial retrospect and reflection
(17 pages)
In:
International Review of Mission, vol. 111, pp. 268-284
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/irom.12432
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
The changing face of mission studies since the Nineteenth Century
(19 pages)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198831723.013.1
Research output: › Chapter (peer-reviewed) (Published) -
Edwards, Evangeline Dora [Eve] (1888-1957)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.63785
Research output: › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary (E-pub ahead of print) -
Baptists, race and empire, 1792–1914
(15 pages)
In:
Baptist Quarterly
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0005576X.2022.2114246
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Edinburgh and China: The history of educational, medical, and missionary connections
(9 pages)
In:
University of Edinburgh Journal, vol. 50, pp. 103-111
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Accepted/In press) -
From Plato to Pentecostalism: Sickness and deliverance in the theology of Derek Prince
(21 pages)
In:
Studies in Church History, vol. 58, pp. 394-414
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/stc.2022.19
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Afterword: James Legge and the missionary tradition in British sinology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004461789_013
Research output: › Chapter (peer-reviewed) (Published) -
Congo, Democratic Republic of the (formerly Zaire), Christianity in
(3 pages)
Research output: › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary (Published) -
Edinburgh, World Missionary Conference (1910)
(1 page)
Research output: › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary (Published) -
Mackay, Alexander Murdoch
(1 page)
Research output: › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary (Published)