Martin Rodriguez sits down with Robert Priest, missiologist and retired professor of anthropology. Priest shares about his experiences as a missiological anthropologist, his research, and his hopes for the future of the field.

Our Guest

Robet J. Priest is a missiologist who recently retired from Taylor University where he was a professor of anthropology. He was previously the G. W. Aldeen Professor of International Studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. In the course of his career, he served in a variety of teaching positions at TEDS and, earlier, Columbia Biblical Seminary & School of Mission.

Priest is the former president of both the American Society of Missiology (2013-14) and the Evangelical Missiological Society (2015-17). His research and writing have included a focus on race and ethnicity, sexuality, short-term missions, religious conversion, and witchcraft accusations.

Among Priest's publications are the edited volumes Effective Engagement in Short-Term Missions: Doing It Right! (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2008); The Missionary Family: Witness, Concerns, Care,
with Dwight Baker (Pasadena, CA: WilliamCarey Library, 2014); and Africa Christian Leadership: Realities, Opportunities, and Impact, with Kirimi Barine (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2017). His recently published research includes "Same-Sex Sexuality, Marriage, and the Seminary Professor: Catholic, Evangelical, and Mainline
Protestant," Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion 14, no. 8 (2018): 1-45; and "Faith Integration and the Outrageous Ethic of Sex Only in Male-Female Marriage: Towards anAnthropology of Sex and Marriage for the Christian Community,” On Knowing Humanity Journal: Ethnography and Analysis Through the Eyes of Christian Faith 6, no. 1 (2022): 1-41. 

Publications Mentioned

• “Missionary Positions: Christian, Modernist, Postmodernist,” Current Anthropology 42, no. 1 (2001): 29-68.
• Timothy C. Tennent, For the Body: Recovering a Theology of Gender, Sexuality, and the Human Body, Seedbed Resources (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2020).
• David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity... and Why It Matters (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007). 

Credits

Hosted by Martin Rodriguez

Produced by Greg McKinzie