Speakers

Paul Freston is a sociologist. Originally from Britain but resident in Brazil since 1976 and a naturalized Brazilian citizen, he has worked mainly on religion and politics, the growth of pentecostalism in the global south, and questions of religion and globalization. He currently holds the Byker Chair in sociology at Calvin College, Michigan, and is professor of sociology on the post-graduate programme in social science at the Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Brazil. His books include: Evangelicals and Politics in Asia, Africa and Latin America (Cambridge University Press, 2001); Protestant Political Parties: a Global Survey (Ashgate, 2004); and Evangelical Christianity and Democracy in Latin America (Oxford University Press, 2007).

Ananta Kumar Giri is currently on the faculty of Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai, India and has worked and taught in many universities in India and abroad including Free University, Amsterdam, University of Kentucky and Aalborg University, Denmark. He has an abiding interest in social movements and cultural change, criticism, creativity and contemporary dialectics of transformations, theories of self, culture and society, and ethics in management and development. Among Dr. Giri’s recent books are: Conversations and Transformations: Toward a New Ethics of Self and Society (2002); Building in the Margins of Shacks: The Vision and Projects of Habitat for Humanity (2002) Reflections and Mobilizations: Dialogues with  Movements and Voluntary Organizations (2004); A Moral Critique of Development: In Search of Global Responsibilities (co-editor, 2003); Creative Social Research: Rethinking Theories and Methods (editor, 2004); Religion of Development, Development of Religion (co-editor, 2004); and The Modern Prince and Modern Sage: Transforming Power and Freedom (editor, 2007).

Ronald Inglehart is a professor of political science at the University of Michigan (USA). Professor Inglehart's ongoing research focuses on cultural change and its consequences. To explore this, he is coordinating a world-wide survey of mass values and attitudes, the World Values Survey. Amongst his recent books are Modernization, Cultural Change and Democracy (2005) and Sacred and Secular: Reexamining the Secularization Thesis (2004).

Kirsteen Kim is a researcher, teacher and writer on theology of mission and world Christianity, with a special interest in theologies from Asia, Africa and Latin America. She is an Honorary Lecturer in the University of Birmingham (England), a theological advisor for the World Council of Churches, and currently Chair of the British and Irish Association for Mission Studies. She has lived and worked in India and Korea as well as the UK. Titles by Kim are amongst others:  Mission in the Spirit: the Holy Spirit in Indian Christian theologies (2003), Missiology as Global Conversation of (Contextual) Theologies (2004), and The Spirit in the world (forthcoming in October 2007).

Mansoor Moaddel is a professor of sociology at Eastern Michigan University (USA). His research work currently focuses on the causes and consequences of values and attitudes of the Middle Eastern and Islamic publics. His previous research project analyzed the determinants of ideological production in the Islamic world. His most recent books are Values and Perceptions of the Islamic Publics (forthcoming) and Islamic Modernism, Nationalism and Fundamentalism: Episode and Discourse (2005).

Thorleif Petterson is a professor in the sociology of religion at Uppsala University, Sweden. His present research projects focus on value systems (European Values Study and World Values Survey) and on Religious and Moral Pluralism. He has published widely on the development of religion in both Northern and Southern Europe. His publications also deal with globalization and religious developments.

Philip Quarles van Ufford is emeritus associate professor linked to the department of Social and Cultural Anthropology. Over time he has published various books, volumes and essays a number of interrelated topics : the relationship between Religion and Development;  the impacts of long term collaboration between a Dutch Mission and the church of Central Java;  Organizational dynamics of development policy ( government as well as NGO). His books include: Religion and Development (co-editor, 1988), Murder in the Cathedral; disrupted time, broken space: violence in the regional history of an Indonesian church, in G. Schlee(ed) : Imagined differences; hatred and the construction of identity (2002), A moral Critique of development; in search of global responsibilities (co-editor, 2003).

Oscar Salemink is Professor of Social Anthropology at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, after six years as development practitioner with the Ford Foundation in Thailand and Vietnam. Recent publications include: Viet Nam's Cultural Diversity: Approaches to Preservation (editor - 2001); The Ethnography of Vietnam's Central Highlanders: A Historical Contextualization, 1850-1990 (2003); The Development of Religion, the Religion of Development (co-editor, 2004); and ‘The transnational construction of local conflicts and protests’ (special section of Focaal 47, 2006). His current research concerns the revival of local religion in Southeast Asia in a transnational context.

Juan Sepúlveda is Director of Development and Institutional Planning at Servicio Evangelico para el Desarrollo (SEPADE) in Santiago (Chile) and at the same time a lecturer on Mission and Pentecostal studies at the Comunidad Teológica Evangélica de Chile, Faculty of Theology. He teaches on the history of the churches in Chile and 1999 he published the book From Pilgrims to citizens; A brief history of evangelical Christianity in Chile. He has published widely about Pentecostalism in Latin America.

Dirkie Smit teaches systemic theology and ethics at Stellenbosch University, before that at the University of the Western Cape (both in South Africa), and serves as chairperson of the Beyers Naudé Center for Public Theology. Of his many articles and book chapters, many deal with the role of the church and religion in (South African) society, including: No ulterior motive - and public theology (2006), Reformed faith, justice and the struggle against apartheid (2005), On social and economic justice in South Africa today; A theological perspective on theoretical paradigms (2005), On the impact of the church in South Africa after the collapse of the apartheid regime (2004).

Scott M. Thomas lectures in International Relations and the Politics of Developing Countries in the Department of Economics and International Development of the University of Bath (England). His research interests lie with the global resurgence of religion, the moral force of transnational ideas in international relations (e.g. opposition to racism, apartheid, and colonialism), and the growing role of religion in international relations. Dr. Thomas' most recent book, which gained him an international reputation, is The Global Resurgence of Religion and the Transformation of International Relations (2005). He has published many book chapters and articles on related themes.

Frans Wijsen is Professor of World Christianity and Interreligious Relations at Radboud University Nijmegen (The Netherlands). His principal research topics are Interaction between Christianity, Native Religions and Islam in Africa, and Religiosity of Africans living in The Netherlands. Wijsen’s latest publication is: Seeds of Conflict in a Haven of Peace. From Religious Studies to Interreligious Studies in Africa (Amsterdam - New York, 2007).