“Christian Diversity: Are There Any Limits in the Modern World?” will be the focus of a talk to be presented by Dr. David Thompson, a noted church historian from the University of Cambridge, on Thursday, Nov. 10, 5 p.m. at 101 Jewett Hall.
Thompson’s SUNY Fredonia talk, sponsored by the History Department and Interdisciplinary Studies, was arranged by History professor Eileen Lyon, who was a graduate student of Thompson at the University of Cambridge. A question-and-answer session will follow Thompson’s talk, which is open to all.
Thompson, who taught church history at the University of Cambridge for four decades, is a Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, part of the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He has published many articles and books on church and state and church and society issues. Thompson earned his doctorate in History at the University of Cambridge in 1969.
After being appointed the first director of the University’s Centre for Advanced Religious and Theological Studies in 1995, Thompson took a personal interest in two major research projects: the missionary movement in Europe and North America in the 19th and 20th centuries, and Christianity in Asia.
That research culminated in development, with a colleague, of a new course on world Christianity designed to introduce students to a wide variety of patterns of church life in the world today, notably in post-colonial societies.
