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Martin Rodriguez sits down with Allen Yeh, associate professor of intercultural studies at Biola University, to discuss his experiences in missiology and his hopes for its future.

Our Guest

Allen Yeh (DPhil, Oxford University) is an associate professor of intercultural studies at Biola University. He specializes in Latin America and China. He also has academic interests in history, classical music, homiletics, social justice, the California missions, the Maya, and biographical interest in Jonathan Edwards (America's greatest theologian) and Adoniram Judson (America's first intercontinental missionary). He serves on the Board of Trustees for the Foundation for Theological Education in Southeast Asia. He earned a BA from Yale, MDiv from Gordon-Conwell, and MTh from Edinburgh. Despite this alphabet soup, he believes that experience is the greatest teacher of all (besides the Bible). As such, Allen has been to over 60 countries on every continent, to study, do missions work, and experience the culture. As Mark Twain said in 1857, "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." He is joyfully married to Arianna Molloy, a professor in Biola's communication studies department.

Among Allen's publications are three books: Polycentric Missiology: 21st Century Mission from Everyone to Everywhere (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2016), Expect Great Things, Attempt Great Things: William Carey & Adoniram Judson, Missionary Pioneers (Studies in World Christianity), co-edited with Chris Chun (Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2013), and Routes and Radishes: and Other Things to Talk About at the Evangelical Crossroads, co-authored with Dwight Friesen, Mark Russell, Michelle Sanchez, and Chelle Stearns (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010).

Special Note

Dr. Yeh mentions Lamin Sanneh, one of the leaders of world Christian studies. After this episode was recorded, Lamin Sanneh died unexpectedly. A few related links:

• Greg Sterling, "Professor Lamin Sanneh, 1942-2019," https://divinity.yale.edu/news/professor-lamin-sanneh-1942-2019.
• Andrew F. Walls, "Professor Lamin Sanneh: In Memoriam," http://www.cswc.div.ed.ac.uk/2019/01/professor-lamin-sanneh-in-memoriam.
• Katharine Q. Seelye, "Lamin Sanneh, Scholar of Islam and Christianity, Dies at 76," https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/obituaries/lamin-sanneh-dead.html.

Publications Mentioned

• Allen Yeh. Polycentric Missiology: 21st-Century Mission from Everyone to Everywhere. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2016.
• Philip Jenkins. The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
• Andrew Walls. The Missionary Movement in Christian History: Studies in the Transmission of Faith. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1996.
• Tokunboh Adeyemo, ed. Africa Bible Commentary: A One-Volume Commentary Written by 70 African Scholars. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010.
• Brian Wintle, ed. South Asia Bible Commentary: A One-Volume Commentary on the Whole Bible. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2015.
• Angela Duckworth. Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2016.

Organizations Mentioned

• Urbana Student Missions Conference, https://urbana.org.
• Student Missionary Union, https://www.biola.edu/smu.
• Asian Access, https://www.asianaccess.org.
• Centre for the Study of World Christianity, https://www.cswc.div.ed.ac.uk/2019/01/professor-lamin-sanneh-in-memoriam.

Credits

Hosted by Martin Rodriguez

Produced by Greg McKinzie