David Kerr (religion scholar)
David A. Kerr | |
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University of Lund |
David A. Kerr (16 May 1945 – 14 April 2008) was a British scholar of Christian-Muslim relations and world Christianity.
Biography
Kerr was born and raised in London to Agape Jean, the daughter of Scottish
Kerr worked for a short time as a journalist with the
His wife, Gun Holmström, was a Finnish student in London when they first met in his father's church. They married in Finland in 1970 and had two children, Simeon and Anna.[3]
Academic work
Kerr was an active administrator of a number of academic centres around the world. He was also known for his supervision of master's degree and PhD students from various parts of Africa and Asia, for most of whom English was not their first language.[3] It is said that while he was the director for the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World, he had oversight of over 30 students at a given time.[2] Stephen Goodwin comments:[4]
David belonged to that set of scholars who saw their principle task to be the education, support and development of their students; the student subsequently would be the primary witness of the scholar's work, rather than the contemporary tendency, under the pressure of publications-based funding, to issue forth a stream of books.
Although Kerr never produced an academic monograph himself, he was well respected for his scholarship as can be seen in the two-volume Festschrift produced in his honour:
- Goodwin, Stephen R., ed. (2009). World Christianity in Local Context: Essays in Memory of David A. Kerr. London: Continuum. ISBN 978-1-84706-510-0.
- Goodwin, Stephen R., ed. (2011). World Christianity in Muslim Encounter: Essays in Memory of David A. Kerr. London: Continuum. ISBN 978-1-4411-8722-2.
The appendix of his Festschrift lists significant articles in the areas of Christian-Muslim relations (including historical, theological, missiological, and regional studies), Middle Eastern Christianity, and Ecumenics.[5]
References
- ^ Kerr, Simeon (22 June 2008). "Obituary: David Kerr". Guardian. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
- ^ S2CID 149270021.
- ^ a b Lamb, Christopher (28 April 2008). "Obituary: Professor David Kerr". Church Times. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
- ISBN 978-1-84706-510-0.
- ISBN 978-1-4411-8722-2.