Published Papers and Conference Presentations by Michele Sigg, Ph.D.
Unlikely Friends: How God Uses Boundary Crossing Friendships to Transform the World, 2021
In this chapter, the work of mission in nineteenth century France is facilitated by the friendshi... more In this chapter, the work of mission in nineteenth century France is facilitated by the friendship between two exceptional women who led the Protestant women of Paris in charitable initiatives and mission outreach.
Sixteenth-Century Mission: Explorations in Protestant and Roman Catholic Theology and Mission, 2021
This presentation, given at the annual meeting of the African Studies Association (2019), is an o... more This presentation, given at the annual meeting of the African Studies Association (2019), is an overview of the digital presence of the DICTIONARY OF AFRICAN CHRISTIAN BIOGRAPHY (DACB.ORG) and of the means employed to ensure that its content is freely accessible to Africans across the continent of Africa and a global audience. This takes into consideration limitations in bandwidth, accessibility to computers, and smart phone use.
200 Years of Methodist Mission: Answering the Call: Hearing God’s Voice in Methodist Mission, Past, Present, and Future , 2019
This presentation traced the origins and early history of Methodist missions in Nineteenth-Centur... more This presentation traced the origins and early history of Methodist missions in Nineteenth-Century France through the work of pioneer missionary Charles Cook, his wife Julie Marzials, and evangelist Jean-Louis Rostan. Methodism helped to shape the Evangelical Protestantism that emerged from the Réveil—the French chapter of the Evangelical Revival—and left a lasting imprint on the French missionary movement and on the Reformed Church.
When the Evangelical Revival finally arrived in France in the early 19th century, Cook pioneered missionary work first in Normandy and later in southern France where his forty-year ministry left a lasting legacy. Together with his wife Julie Marzials, daughter of a Reformed pastor, and evangelist Rostan, their Methodist missionary methods made inroads in the Reformed churches, fueled the fires of revival, and nurtured the international missionary movement. Julie pioneered work among women, girls, and children, and Rostan’s tireless itineration spread the message of renewed faith in many far-flung areas. Rostan’s friendship with many women informed his piety and his missionary methods. Cook’s work has been compared to that of John Wesley “on a smaller scale, on the Continent” by historian Merle d’Aubigné.
Presentation at the Eastern Fellowship of Professors of Mission, Maryknoll 2018
This presentation introduced a devotional text by Czech Reformer Jan Hus entitled “Regarding the ... more This presentation introduced a devotional text by Czech Reformer Jan Hus entitled “Regarding the Knowledge of the True Way of Salvation” to a community of women, possibly Béguines, between 1412 and 1415. This short text, known in popular tradition as Dcerka [The Daughter] is exceptional for its warm and welcoming tone towards its female audience, its positive view of women, and for the mission spirituality it expresses. Scholar Thomas Fudge has described it as "a classic within the later medieval literature of Christian spirituality."
AFRICAN CHRISTIANITY IN LOCAL AND GLOBAL CONTEXTS: A Festschrift in Honour of Rev. Professor Isaac Deji Ayegboyin @ 70, 2019
This book chapter underlines the importance of documenting women's history in African Christianity.
Journal of African Christian Biography, 2019
This journal issue includes an introduction by Michele Sigg, articles by Jonathan Bonk, Andrew Wa... more This journal issue includes an introduction by Michele Sigg, articles by Jonathan Bonk, Andrew Walls, John Watters, Francis Anekwe Oborji, and David Bratt as well as the transcript of an Interfaith Memorial Service held in the Gambia. In addition, Sanneh's legacy is further reflected in four biographies and in a short bibliography of his work compiled by Beth Restrick.
African Christian Biography (Cluster Publications), 2018
From the introduction, by volume editor Dr. Dana Robert: "In the second essay, Michèle Sigg, pro... more From the introduction, by volume editor Dr. Dana Robert: "In the second essay, Michèle Sigg, project manager of the DACB since 2002, analyzes how the DACB chose to focus its efforts on the biographies of individuals rather than events or groups. This “pointillist history” provides thousands of points of light that cumulatively illuminate African history. Biography has received renewed recognition as essential to history, with the advantage that it creates narratives and forms identities by placing individuals within networks of relationships. In particular, biography challenges master narratives by making visible the hidden people of history, such as women and working classes. Sigg gives specific illustrations from the DACB of biographies that bring the important leadership of African Christians into the open, from where it was hidden under colonialist frameworks."
World Christianity has been enriched by both the historical and recent development of indigenous ... more World Christianity has been enriched by both the historical and recent development of indigenous and vernacular movements. Christianity is not bound to the original culture of its founder; it expands through a process of translation, taking on the flavor of local cultures as it sinks its roots into different contexts (Sanneh 2008). Indigenous and vernacular Christianity is one multi‐faceted way to describe Christian faith in the process of inculturation: an initial phase of cultural and theological translation during which new converts and their fledgling communities actively search for ways to be Christian within their own particular contexts. While indigenous and vernacular Christianity might be described, in the words of Andrew Walls, as Christianity " at the margins, " it is also a primary component in the expanding world Christian movement.
This paper is a study of the Christology of widows in Kitula village, in Machakos district of Eas... more This paper is a study of the Christology of widows in Kitula village, in Machakos district of Eastern Kenya.
Maurice Leenhardt was an independent-minded missionary of the Paris Evangelical Mission Society f... more Maurice Leenhardt was an independent-minded missionary of the Paris Evangelical Mission Society from 1902 to 1926. His work as a missionary and self-taught anthropologist in French Polynesia was instrumental in the development of French Protestant missiology.
Papers by Michele Sigg, Ph.D.
Dictionary of African Christian Biography, Jul 1, 2020
Dictionary of African Christian Biography, 2021
Dictionary of African Christian Biography, Oct 1, 2021
Dictionary of African Christian Biography, Jul 1, 2019
A publication of the Dictionary of African Christian Biography with U.S. offices located at the C... more A publication of the Dictionary of African Christian Biography with U.S. offices located at the Center for Global Christianity and Mission at Boston University. The editors are pleased to offer the first annual cumulative volume of the Journal of African Christian Biography, the monthly scholarly publication that was launched in June of 2016. Since then, the life stories of twelve individuals who played vital roles in and through their faith communities have been published online as free downloads. But it is important that a selection of DACB stories be more readily available to those without access to the internet. As I mentioned in the fall 2016 newsletter of the DACB, each issue of the journal is available in its e-journal, on-line version, where it is configured either as A4 or 8.5 x 11 format printable as booklets, ready for local printing and binding or stapling. Our intention is to make it easy for academics and church leaders in various parts of Africa to make print copies o...
World Christianity has been enriched by both the historical and recent development of indigenous ... more World Christianity has been enriched by both the historical and recent development of indigenous and vernacular movements. Christianity is not bound to the original culture of its founder; it expands through a process of translation, taking on the flavor of local cultures as it sinks its roots into different contexts (Sanneh 2008). Indigenous and vernacular Christianity is one multi‐faceted way to describe Christian faith in the process of inculturation: an initial phase of cultural and theological translation during which new converts and their fledgling communities actively search for ways to be Christian within their own particular contexts. While indigenous and vernacular Christianity might be described, in the words of Andrew Walls, as Christianity " at the margins, " it is also a primary component in the expanding world Christian movement.
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Published Papers and Conference Presentations by Michele Sigg, Ph.D.
When the Evangelical Revival finally arrived in France in the early 19th century, Cook pioneered missionary work first in Normandy and later in southern France where his forty-year ministry left a lasting legacy. Together with his wife Julie Marzials, daughter of a Reformed pastor, and evangelist Rostan, their Methodist missionary methods made inroads in the Reformed churches, fueled the fires of revival, and nurtured the international missionary movement. Julie pioneered work among women, girls, and children, and Rostan’s tireless itineration spread the message of renewed faith in many far-flung areas. Rostan’s friendship with many women informed his piety and his missionary methods. Cook’s work has been compared to that of John Wesley “on a smaller scale, on the Continent” by historian Merle d’Aubigné.
Papers by Michele Sigg, Ph.D.
When the Evangelical Revival finally arrived in France in the early 19th century, Cook pioneered missionary work first in Normandy and later in southern France where his forty-year ministry left a lasting legacy. Together with his wife Julie Marzials, daughter of a Reformed pastor, and evangelist Rostan, their Methodist missionary methods made inroads in the Reformed churches, fueled the fires of revival, and nurtured the international missionary movement. Julie pioneered work among women, girls, and children, and Rostan’s tireless itineration spread the message of renewed faith in many far-flung areas. Rostan’s friendship with many women informed his piety and his missionary methods. Cook’s work has been compared to that of John Wesley “on a smaller scale, on the Continent” by historian Merle d’Aubigné.
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In Birthing Revival, Michèle Sigg sheds light on the seminal role French Protestant women played in launching and sustaining this movement of revival and mission. Out of the concerted efforts of these women arose a holistic mission strategy encompassing the home front and the foreign field. Parisian women, led by Émilie Mallet, established schools to provide infants with food, safety, and religious education. Mallet and her friend Albertine de Broglie led the women’s auxiliary of the Paris Bible Society to design and carry out a strategy for large-scale Bible distribution and fundraising. In 1825 de Broglie pioneered the women’s committee of the Paris Evangelical Mission Society, which used the Bible Society model to promote international missions across their many networks. In meetings, publications, and reports to the annual General Assembly, the women reflected on their calling in the work of mission and fully embraced their identity as "true missionaries."
The success of women teachers and their presence as wives and mothers in the Lesotho Mission—exemplified by pioneering missionary wife Elizabeth Lyndall Rolland—proved that married couples serving together as models of Christian living were essential in opening the doors to missionary work in Africa. The story, and these women’s legacies, does not end in the field, however. Sigg demonstrates how the educational work of the missionary wives and their publications that shared good news of growing faith in Lesotho sparked local revivals in France. When the enthusiasm of the Réveil waned in the metropole and divisions mounted among Protestants, a movement of deaconesses emerged to renew the faith of French Protestants.