Africa

United States of America

Assistant Professor of Global Christianity

Arizona State University

jason.bruner.1@asu.edu

123 W. 10th St.
Tempe, AZ 85281

480-965-5778 ext. 50454

Uganda
East Africa

Princeton Theological Seminary (PhD)
Weston Jesuit School of Theology (MTS)
Gardner-Webb University (BA)

I am intrigued by the religious and cultural exchanges between European missionaries and those who converted, with a focus upon reciprocity and the agency of non-Westerners, themes which I explore in forthcoming book chapters: "Fishers of Men and Hunters of Lion," in K. Jones and G. Macola, eds., A Cultural History of Firearms (Ashgate, 2013); and "British Mission and Missionaries in the High Imperial Era: An Introduction," in R. Aldrich and K. McKenzie, eds. The Routledge History of Empires (Routledge, forthcoming). I have also written about the history of Christian mission in 19th-century China, including a forthcoming article in Social Sciences and Missions, "The Cambridge Seven, Late Victorian Culture, and the Chinese Frontier."

I am engaged currently in writing a book on the history of the East African (Balokole) Revival in Uganda from the early 1930s to the early 1950s. While the revival was a conversionary movement that proclaimed a Christian message of salvation, this project examines the ways in which salvation was not simply a personal, eternal aspiration for the Balokole, but rather a comprehensive way of life. This work illuminates the many ways in which the revival created a new lifestyle for those who converted through its message, which had profound impacts upon revivalists' understanding of themselves and how they ought to relate to their families, communities, societies, and nations.

History of Christianity
Religion in Africa
History of World/Global Christianity
European Imperialism
Christian Missionary Movement
Evangelicalism

Book Chapters
“British Missions and Missionaries in the High Imperial Era: An Introduction." In The Routledge History of Empires, eds. Robert Aldrich and Kirsten McKenzie (Routledge, forthcoming 2013).

"'What is a European hospital but a pagan shrine?' Health, Healing, and Critiques of Missionary Healthcare in Colonial Uganda." In The Healing Touch: A History of Medical Missions in Asia and Africa, 18th-20th Centuries, ed. Sandeep Sinha (forthcoming).

"Fishers of Men and Hunters of Lion: British Missionaries and Big Game Hunting in Colonial East Africa, ca. 1880s-1940s." In A Cultural History of Firearms in the Age of Empire, eds. Karen Jones and Giacomo Macola (London: Ashgate, 2013).

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
"The Cambridge Seven, Late Victorian Culture, and the Chinese Frontier." Accepted for publication and under revision for Social Science and Missions Special Issue: “Beyond Borders: 'China' in Missions” [expected February 2014].

“Public Confession and the Moral Universe of the East African Revival.” Studies in World Christianity 18:3 (2012).

"Keswick and the East African Revival: A Historiographical Reappraisal." Religion Compass 5:9 (2011).

“Inquiring into Empire: Princeton Seminary’s Society of Inquiry on Mission, the Opium Trade, and the British Empire, ca. 1830-1850.” Mission Studies 27:2 (2010).

“Divided We Stand: North American Evangelicals and the Crisis in the Anglican Communion.” Journal of Anglican Studies 8:1 (2010).

Christianity, Uganda, Anglicanism, Evangelicalism, Missionary, Revival, British Empire