Welcome to the Mission and Religious Freedom Symposium on September 20th and 21st at Fjellhaug. Janet Epp Buckingham, Christof Sauer, Anna Hampton, and Frank Ole Thoresen will deliver keynote lectures, and more than 20 scholars from 15 countries will present papers spanning various fields of study.
Canadian Janet Epp Buckingham is a professor of Political Science and the Director of Global Advocacy for the World Evangelical Alliance. Buckingham's presentation will focus on mission work in regions with a dominant majority religion where authorities impose restrictions on missionary activities and suppress religious minorities. She will discuss how international and national legislation affects mission work.
German Christof Sauer is a Professor II in Missiology at Fjellhaug and an expert on religious freedom and religious persecution. Sauer will address the relationship between mission and religious freedom, emphasizing restrictions on Christian missions. His goal is to develop an index measuring hostility towards missions.
Anna Hampton (pseudonym) works as a missionary in a Muslim-majority area marked by political turmoil. American Hampton, in connection with her work, has authored several books on encounters with risk, danger, and fear in missionary work. Hampton combines social sciences, practical experience, and Christian theology in her presentation, focusing on the development of her missiological theology of risk.
Frank Ole Thoresen is a missiologist and the rector at Fjellhaug. Over the past year, he has been involved in a research project concerning religious minorities in North Africa. Through research interviews with representatives of religious minorities in Tunisia, Thoresen investigates their experiences with tolerance and freedom of faith.
In addition to the keynote lectures, there will be more than 20 shorter presentations divided into various paper groups. Contributors come from over 15 different countries and various academic fields, including law, journalism, Islamic studies, history, biblical studies, practical theology, politics, and missiology. You can find abstracts of the presentations on our website.
For more information on the program, paper summaries, and registration, please visit the following link: Mission and Religious Freedom - Symposium 2023
