2008 Lecturers

Dr. Lamin Sanneh and The Rev. Dr. Wanda Deifelt

Dr. Lamin Sanneh
Sanneh, a naturalized U.S. citizen, is descended from the nyanchos, an ancient African royal house, and was educated on four continents. He went to school with chiefs' sons in the Gambia, West Africa. He subsequently came to the United States on a U.S. government scholarship to read history. After graduating he spent several years studying classical Arabic and Islam, including a stint in the Middle East, and working with the churches in Africa and with international organizations concerned with inter-religious issues. He received his Ph.D. in Islamic history at the University of London.

He was a professor at Harvard University for eight years before moving to Yale University in 1989 as the D. Willis James Professor of Missions and World Christianity, with a concurrent courtesy appointment as Professor of History at Yale College. He has been actively involved in Yale's Council on African Studies. He is an editor-at-large of the ecumenical weekly, The Christian Century, and serves on the editorial board of several academic journals. He is an Honorary Research Professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies In the University of London, and is a life member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University. He serves on the board of Ethics and Public Policy at Harvard University, and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham, Alabama. He is the author of over a hundred articles on religious and historical subjects, and of several books. For his academic work he was made Commandeur de l'Ordre National du Lion, Senegal's highest national honor.

Dr. Lamin Sanneh spoke at:

• Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, March 6, 2008
• Wartburg Theological Seminary, April 3, 2008
• Luther Seminary, April 16, 2008
• Trinity Lutheran Seminary, April 23, 2008

The Rev. Dr. Wanda Deifelt
Deifelt attended Faculdade de Teologia da Escola Superior de Teologia da Igreja Evangelica de Confissao Luterana no Brasil, Sao Leopoldo, RS, where she received a bachelor of theology degree in 1984. She then attended Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Evanston, Ill., where she received a master of theology degree in 1986.

She received a doctor of philosophy degree in 1990 from a joint program in religious studies at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. She served as pastor at the Lutheran congregation of Esteio, RS, from 1991 to 1995, and was the Latin American representative on the board of the Ecumenical Institute, World Council of Churches, Bossey, Switzerland. She has served as a member of the editorial board of "Concillium," an international theology journal; as dean of graduate studies and professor of Systematic Theology at Instituto Ecumenico de Pos-Graduacao of Escola Superior de Teolgia, Sao Leopoldo, RS, Brazil; as theological advisor, Council of the Lutheran World Federation, Standing Committee of Ecumenical Affairs; and as a member of board of the Ecumenical Institute, Strasbourg, France, among others.

Deifelt currently serves as Associate Professor of Religion at Luther College and resides in Decorah, Iowa. She is one of the most influential feminist theologians from a Latin American context who has combined influences from contemporary European and American hermeneutics with life-experience and scholarly reflection from a Brazilian and Latin-American perspective.

Dr. Wanda Deifelt spoke at:

• Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, February 7, 2008
• The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, February 19, 2008
• Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, February 29, 2008
• Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, March 13, 2008

Endnote
1. http://www.yale.edu/history/faculty/sanneh_l.html,  28 August 2007.