Lamin sanneh biography

  • Born in The Gambia and descended from an ancient African royal family, Lamin Sanneh was a naturalized US citizen who was educated on four continents.
  • Biography.
  • Lamin Sanneh was the D. Willis James Professor of Missions and World Christianity at Yale Divinity School and Professor of History at Yale University.

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    Sanneh, Lamin

    1942-2019
    Catholic Church
    Gambia

    On Sunday, January 6, 2019, Professor Lamin Sanneh of Yale University passed away at the age of 76. He grew up in humble circumstances along the Gambia River in West Africa in an Islamic community, yet he died as a Christian associated with one of the most prestigious institutions of learning in the West, Yale University. He was the D. Willis James Professor of Missions and World Christianity at Yale Divinity School, Professor of History at Yale University, and Director of the Project on Religious Freedom and Society in Africa at the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale.

    He was an extraordinarily gifted African scholar. He became a leading historian in the study of World Christianity, missions, and the little understood place of the local vernacular in Bible translation and its cultural implications. He provided a radical revision of and challenge to the received understanding among

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    Lamin Sanneh

    Professor Lamin Sanneh, 1942-2019
    Read the obituary by Dean Greg Sterling here.

    Born in The Gambia and descended from an ancient African royal family, Lamin Sanneh was a naturalized U.S. citizen who was educated on four continents. He earned degrees in history and Islamic studies and taught in several Universities, including the University of Ghana, Legon, the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and at Harvard, before coming to Yale in 1989 as the D. Willis James Professor of World Christianity and of History. He was a life member of Clare ingång, Cambridge University, and an Honorary Research Professor at the School of Oriental & African Studies in the University of London. He was the recipient of honorary doctorates from the University of Edinburgh and Liverpool Hope University. He served several times as chair of Yale’s Council on African Studies. He was an editor-at-large of the ecumenical weekly The Christian Century and a contributing editor of the Interna

  • lamin sanneh biography

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    Professor Lamin Sanneh, 1942-2019

    By Greg Sterling

    Note: YDS Dean Sterling sent the following message to the YDS Community on Monday, January 7. 

    Colleagues and Friends,

    I am writing to inform you of the sudden and unexpected death of Lamin Sanneh, D. Willis James Professor of Missions and World Christianity at Yale Divinity School. Many of us were with Lamin just before the Christmas break when he was anticipating the arrival of his family and the celebration of Christmas. An announcement like this seemed unimaginable; however, Lamin suffered a stroke and died on Sunday, January 6th, surrounded by his family. I know that many of you will receive this news as I did—with shock.

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    RELATED STORY: Students and alumni remember Lamin Sanneh

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    Lamin was born on MacCarthy Island in the River Gambia. A descendent of an ancient African royal family, he grew up as a Muslim but converted to Christianity. He was educated and taught on four different continents. He earned gradu