The Writings and Legacy of Lamin Sanneh

Lamin Sanneh (1942–2019) exerted a profound influence on the study of Christianity in Africa and, beyond that, on the study of Christianity worldwide. He introduced some striking new lines of conversation into the history of African Christianity, and for the emerging field of world Christian studies, he became, as Andrew Walls put it, an “architect of the discourse” (Walls, Tribute of a Colleague and Co-founder.” Journal of African Christian Biography, Vol. 4, No. 2, p. 10, 2019). Several abiding questions drove Sanneh’s long career as a historian of African religions. What is distinctive about West African Islam? How are we to understand the massive movement in Africa toward Christian faith? And what does that movement reveal about how Christianity has made its way, both in Africa and across the globe? Two major themes of his life work were African agency in the spread of Christianity in Africa and the “translating” of Christianity into a great variety of cultures worldwide. Sanneh’s main contribution to Islamic studies was revealing the peaceable, non-jihadist traditions of West African Islam.