'A miracle from Nairobi': David B. Barrett and the quantification of world Christianity, 1957–1982

This dissertation analyzes the role of quantification in the history of Christian mission by placing David B. Barrett’s World Christian Encyclopedia (1982) in its historical context. It argues that Barrett’s unique mixture of education, professional background, and geographical location in Africa helped him develop an understanding of world Christianity based on its newly-discovered diversity and fragmentation at the end of the British Empire. The Encyclopedia presented a comprehensive quantitative assessment of membership in all branches of the Church and helped shape contemporary understandings of world Christianity. In making explicit connections among world Christianity, mission history, and the social scientific study of religion, this dissertation sheds lights on the history of religious data in relationship to world Christianity. This study shows that Barrett was part of a long history of missionaries who produced church-based, scientific scholarship. It illustrates the ubiquity of such scholarship throughout the history of mission, demonstrated through an analysis of missionary quantification from the Jesuits to Barrett, including the Christian roots of American sociology. This analysis contends that American sociology in the 1960s—when Barrett received his Ph.D. in religion from Columbia University—was fundamentally shaped by the history of missionaries who produced social scientific research. The Encyclopedia was conceived, developed, and produced in Africa. Barrett’s location in Nairobi, Kenya, with the Church Missionary Society during the rise of African nationalism and decolonization informed his perspective on world Christianity. Much like the African Independent Churches he studied, Barrett broke off from the missionary establishment and threw his support behind “heretical” African groups. This analysis of Barrett’s experience in Kenya suggests that the growth of African Christianity was fundamental to reshaping definitions of world Christianity. This dissertation contributes to existing scholarship by historically placing the World Christian Encyclopedia in its theological, geographic, political, and social contexts. This study shows that Barrett was the first person to quantify religious adherence of all kinds and to equally represent all of world Christianity in one book. Further, the Encyclopedia indicated that a new era of world Christianity had come, and its center of gravity had moved from white Europe to black Africa

Religions and Social Progress:Critical Assessments and Creative Partnerships

This chapter engages with three important themes of the larger report: the meaning of progress, its uneven nature, and obstacles to future progress. It also considers a number of political and economic alternatives aimed to overcome these obstacles, emphasizing the need for diverse strategies, open-minded experimentation, and scientific assessment. While it may be impossible to ever reach agreement, the effort to calibrate different interpretations of progress remains an important exercise for political deliberation about how to make the world a better place. The very hope of moving forward implies some agreement on a destination. All of us must take responsibility for the future. Our discussion emphasizes the complexity and multidimensionality of the interpretive debate, but also calls attention to its ideological character. Social actors-individuals, groups, and even academic disciplines-tend to define progress in ways that serve their own interests. In a way, distributional conflict undermines our very efforts to better understand and mediate such conflict. The uneven character of progress is manifest in many different domains. Increases in the global reach of formally democratic institutions have been accompanied by growing concerns about their stability, efficacy, and consistency with democratic ideals

Between Healthcare Practitioners and Clergy: Evangelicals and COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy.

Evangelical Christians are among the most hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine. This study examined the extent to which COVID-19 vaccination uptake among Evangelicals is explained by demographic characteristics, Health Belief Model constructs, and faith-based support factors. Survey research firm Qualtrics recruited 531 U.S. adults and conducted a survey to explore predictors of COVID-19 vaccine uptake among people who self-identified as Evangelicals in September 2021. A logistic regression showed that those reporting high perceived benefits of the COVID-19 vaccine were more likely to be vaccinated, while those reporting high perceived barriers were less likely to be vaccinated. Those whose healthcare provider asked them about the vaccine were more likely to be vaccinated than those whose healthcare provider did not ask. Finally, while those who reported information seeking from religious leaders were less likely to be vaccinated, those who reported more faith-based support for vaccination were more likely to be vaccinated. In addition to beliefs about benefits and barriers to vaccination, the role of healthcare providers and clergy were important factors influencing vaccination status. Intervention efforts that capitalize on partnerships between health providers and clergy in supportive congregations may be able to reach undecided Evangelicals

Between Healthcare Practitioners and Clergy:Evangelicals and COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy

Evangelical Christians are among the most hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine. This study examined the extent to which COVID-19 vaccination uptake among Evangelicals is explained by demographic characteristics, Health Belief Model constructs, and faith-based support factors. Survey research firm Qualtrics recruited 531 U.S. adults and conducted a survey to explore predictors of COVID-19 vaccine uptake among people who self-identified as Evangelicals in September 2021. A logistic regression showed that those reporting high perceived benefits of the COVID-19 vaccine were more likely to be vaccinated, while those reporting high perceived barriers were less likely to be vaccinated. Those whose healthcare provider asked them about the vaccine were more likely to be vaccinated than those whose healthcare provider did not ask. Finally, while those who reported information seeking from religious leaders were less likely to be vaccinated, those who reported more faith-based support for vaccination were more likely to be vaccinated. In addition to beliefs about benefits and barriers to vaccination, the role of healthcare providers and clergy were important factors influencing vaccination status. Intervention efforts that capitalize on partnerships between health providers and clergy in supportive congregations may be able to reach undecided Evangelicals