Arun W. Jones
- PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary, 2001
- MDiv, Yale University, 1988
- BA, Yale University, 1980
On research leave for the 2023-24 academic year.
The Rev. Dr. Arun W. Jones grew up in India, where his parents served as Methodist missionaries for over four decades. After college he spent four years in the Philippines, working in both ecclesial and secular non-governmental organizations. His scholarship has grown out of his life and experience in South and Southeast Asia, where he was immersed in a variety of cultural, religious and socio-political contexts. Trained as a historian, he investigates how Christians have appropriated and spread their faith in Asian contexts, especially in the era of European and American imperialism. Jones is the author of two monographs, Missionary Christianity and Local Religion: American Evangelicalism in North India, 1836-1870 (Baylor University Press, 2017), and Christian Missions in the American Empire: Episcopalians in Northern Luzon, the Philippines, 1902-1946 (Peter Lang, 2003). He has also produced numerous articles and book chapters on Christianity in Asia, and his current research focuses on the history of Christianity in Rajasthan, India, as well as other topics in the fields of World Christianity and missiology.
Besides his work and experience in Asia, Jones has served as pastor of United Methodist congregations in Connecticut and New Jersey. He is an ordained elder in the New York Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church.
At Candler, Jones also leads students on international travel seminars with the World Methodist Evangelism Institute, which seeks to promote leadership in evangelism among Methodists and other Wesleyan bodies around the world.
In addition to his work at Candler, Jones is active in leadership in the Graduate Division of Religion of the Laney Graduate School at Emory University. Beyond the university, he holds a leadership position as the secretary of the Society for Hindu Christian Studies, and is serving as the president of the American Society of Missiology in 2019-2020. He lectures, teaches and preaches at various academic and ecclesial institutions and gatherings, frequently drawing on his personal and scholarly knowledge of Christianity around the globe, especially in Asia.
Selected Publications
Books
Editor,Christian Interculture: Texts and Voices from Colonial and Postcolonial Worlds, Penn State University Press, 2021
Missionary Christianity and Local Religion: American Evangelicalism in North India, 1836-1870, Baylor University Press, 2017
Christian Missions in the American Empire: Episcopalians in Northern Luzon, the Philippines, 1902-1946, Peter Lang Publishing, 2003
Chapters and Articles
“Mission in the World of Religions,” in Together in the Mission of God: Jubilee Reflections on the International Missionary Council, ed. Risto Jukko (Geneva: World Council of Churches, 2022), 199-216
"Bhakti and Christian Missions," in Oxford Bibliographies in Hinduism, Oxford University Press, 2020
"The Virtues of Mission," Methodist History, vol. 58, no. 1 and 2 (October 2019 and January 2020)
"Protestants and Anglicans in South-Central Asia," in Edinburgh Companions in Global Christianity, Vol 3: South and Central Asia, edited by Kenneth Ross. Edinburgh University Press, 2019
"Expressions and Encounters: Experiencing the Histories and Theologies of African Christianity in the Collection of Pitts Theology Library," in Theological Librarianship, vol. 12, no.1, April 2019
"Not Such Distant Cousins," in Insights, vol. 134, no. 2, Spring 2019
"Healing and Evangelism in American Methodism: A Proposal,"in, Missio Dei and the United States: Toward a Faithful United Methodist Witness, edited by Kathryn Armistead. General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, 2018
"History of the South Asian Experience of Christianity," in Encyclopedia in Christianity in the Global South, Rowman and Littlefield, 2018
"Discerning the Missio Dei in a Time of Crisis," Missional Preacher. American Society of Missiology, January 14, 2018
"Mission and Power: A View from the Underside of Society," in Mission and Power: History, Relevance and Perils, edited by Atola Longkumer, Jorgen Skov Sorensen, and Michael Biehl. Regnum Books International, 2017.
"Indian Christians and the Appropriation of Western Civilization in the Nineteenth Century," in Studies in World Christianity, vol. 23, no. 1 April 01, 2017
"Local Agency and the Reception of Protestantism in the Philippines." Journal of Asian/North American Theological Educators, vol. 2, no. 1 November 12, 2016
Selected awards
Elected president of the American Society of Missiology for 2019-2020
Missionary Christianity and Local Religion named one of the Outstanding Books of 2017 for Mission Studies by the International Bulletin of Mission Research
Carr Travel Grants, Candler School of Theology
Research Grants, Candler School of Theology
Scholarly Writing and Publishing Fund Award, Center for Faculty Excellence and Development, Emory University
Funding for International Conference, "Can The Native Christian Speak?" Emory University
Henry Luce III Fellowship in Theology, 2008-2009.
Wabash Center Fellowship
In addition to the history of Christianity in Asia, Jones is interested in the historiography of World Christianity. In May of 2014 he organized a conference on this topic, titled “Can The Native Christian Speak?” Once a year he leads students on an international trip with the World Methodist Evangelism Institute, which seeks to promote leadership in Evangelism among Methodists and other Wesleyan bodies around the world.
Service of Word and Table, Cannon Chapel, October 24, 2017
Service of Word and Table, Cannon Chapel, September 29, 2015
Selected Courses
Christian Identities and Expressions in Colonial Africa and Asia
Enabling an Evangelizing Church
Interfaith Dialougue as Christian Mission
Krishna Meets Jesus
The Church in Asia
World Evangelism in an Age of Empire
World Methodist Evangelism Travel Seminar