Berkley Center

Lamin Sanneh, scholar of Christianity and Islam in Africa and longtime friend of the Berkley Center, died suddenly on Sunday, January 6. 

Born in 1942 to a Muslim family in the Gambia, Sanneh later converted to Roman Catholicism and become widely known as a pioneer in the field of world Christianity, as well as a scholar who elevated the significance and complexity of the role of religion in Africa. Though he wrote extensively on the history of Muslim-Christian relations in Africa, he is perhaps best known for his books exploring the impact of Christian missionary work in the non-Western world, including Translating the Message: The Missionary Impact on Culture (1989) and Whose Religion Is Christianity?: The Gospel Beyond the West (2004).

Sanneh was a professor at Yale Divinity School from 1989 until the time of his death. He obtained degrees from the University of Birmingham and the University of London. Prior to teaching at Yale, Sanneh taught at the University of Ghana, the University of Aberdeen, and Harvard University. 

Sanneh spoke at the Berkley Center on numerous occasions, providing his expertise on issues such as the significance of revelation and its translation in Islam and Christianity. The demanding agenda of World Economic Council’s West-Islam Dialogue brought him together with Berkley Center and Georgetown University scholars.

Examining Christian Missions 

As a scholar, Sanneh helped to create the field of world Christianity, even playing a prominent role in the adoption of the term over other options, such as global Christianity or non-Western Christianity. 

He once wrote, 

The fight about what name to give to the subject is really a fight of the west and its surrogates to contest the right of Christians elsewhere to consider themselves as equals in the religion.

Sanneh explored the way that Christianity historically spread to non-Western regions. In Translating the Message, he argued that Christianity is unique in that, unlike many other religions, it has not historically insisted that divine revelation can only be adequately understood through its initial language (Aramaic in the case of Christ). Sanneh argued that the corresponding importance placed on the work of translation has allowed Christianity to become a preserver of indigenous languages worldwide.

A Respected Voice

Sanneh wrote numerous books and articles on the role of Islam and Muslim-Christian relations in shaping African history. One of his most recent books, Beyond Jihad: The Pacifist Tradition in West African Islam, argues that the spread of Islam in West Africa was largely a result of African adaptation of the religion rather than simple military conquest.

Sanneh served on the Pontifical Commission of the Historical Sciences under Pope John Paul II and on the Pontifical Commission on Religious Relations with Muslims under Pope Benedict XVI. He was also made Commandeur de l'Ordre National du Lion, the highest national honor of Senegal. 

An Ongoing Legacy

Sanneh worked with scholars at the Berkley Center in his capacity as a member of the Council of 100 Leaders of the World Economic Forum. Senior Fellow Katherine Marshall remembered him fondly, stating, 

He was that special kind of person who was deeply knowledgeable, balanced and fair in tough assessments, but also passionate about the topics he cared about. He always stood ready to respond to a query, both as colleague and teacher.

Sanneh's work has impacted many, and his legacy will have ongoing relevance thanks to the founding last year of the Sanneh Institute at the University of Ghana. The Sanneh Institute will continue the path of Sanneh's scholarship by researching religion and society in Africa. 

To learn more about Sanneh's life and legacy, please read the obituary issued by Yale Divinity School.