Edwin Zehner

Edwin Zehner is pleased to join the Westmont faculty for the 2011-2012 school year. In addition to holding teaching positons at liberal arts colleges for several years, he also headed the publishing program in Southeast Asian Studies at Northern Illinois University. He is fluent in the Thai language, he has also studied Arabic and European languages, and he has intedisciplinary reaserch interests focusing primarily on religion and society.

Education:

• Ph.D Anthropology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 2003
• M.A. Anthropology, Cornell University, 1984 (Minors in Linguistics and Southeast Asian History). National Resource Fellowship for four years; Univ. Assembly Chair; fulbright Research Grant.
• B.A. History (with High Honors), Houghton College, Houghton, New York, 1981.

Courses taught for 2011-2012

Fall 2011

AN-001 – Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

AN-135 – Sex and Gender Roles in Cross-Cultural Perspective

SOC-106 – Social Research Methods

Spring 2012

AN-115 -- Peoples and Cultures of Latin  America

AN-145 - Culture Theory

AN-198 - Supervision of Anthropology Senior Research Projects

May Term 2012

An-115 - Peoples and Cultures of Asia

Selected Recent Publications

Book

Power and Identity in the Global Church: Six Contemporary Cases, edited by Brian M. Howell and Edwin Zehner. (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library).

Articles and Book Chapters

“Conversions to Christianity among the Thai and Sino-Thai of Modern Thailand.” In Conversion to Christianity in Modern Asia, edited by Richard Fox Young and Jonathan Andrew Seitz (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, forthcoming).

“Seeing through a Glass More Clearly: The Moral and Evangelistic Imperative of More Accurately Representing Other Peoples’ Religions to Ourselves.” In Serving Jesus with Integrity: Ethics and Accountability in Mission, edited by Dwight Baker, et al., Evangelical Missiological Society Series (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2010).

“One-way Missions in the Age of Global Christianity: A View from Thailand.” International Journal of Frontier Missiology 27 (2): 23–31. (Published 2010).

“Beyond Anti-syncretism: Gospel, Context, and Authority in the New Testament and in Thai Conversions to Christianity,” in Power and Identity in the Global Church: Six Contemporary Cases, edited by Brian M. Howell and Edwin Zehner (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2009), pp. 163–191.

“On the Rhetoric of Short-Term Mission Appeals, with Some Practical Suggestions for Team Leaders,” in Effective Engagement in Short-Term Missions: Doing It Right, edited by Robert Priest. Evangelical Missiological Series, no. 16. (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library).

“Short-Term Missions: Toward a More Field-Oriented Model,” Missiology: An International Review 34 (4): 509–221. (Appeared in 2006).

“Orthodox Hybridities: Anti-Syncretism and Localization in the Evangelical Christianity of Thailand,” Anthropological Quarterly 78 (3): 585–617. (Appeared in 2005).

Selected Conference Presentations

“Absorption Theories, Spirit Mediums, and Pentecostal Prophecies: Cases and Questions from Thailand.” Part of the panel on “The Neuroanthropology of Dissociation, Absorption, and Embodiment: Research in Ritual, Play, and Entertainment,” annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, November 2011.

“Why Should Christians Study Anthropology in the Age of Globalization?” Presentation at the US Center for World Mission, Pasadena, CA, August 2011.

“Whatever Happened to Thailand’s ‘Witches’?” Presentation at the North Central Regional Meeting of the Evangelical Missiological Society, held at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IL, February 2011.

“Working with Short-Term Missions: The Experiences of Host Churches and Organizations in Thailand.” Presentation in the panel “Short Term Missions: Religious Circulations in Two Weeks or Less,” at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, November 2010.

“The Politics of Being Successful: Conflicts and Discourses of the Local and the Translocal in Two Thai Religious Movements.” Presentation in the panel “Politics of Faith in Asia: Local and Global Perspectives on Christianity in Asia,” sponsored by the “Comparative Studies In Religion” section at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, October 2010.

“Conversions, Therapies, and Other Forms of Change: Toward a More Interdisciplinary Approach.” Presentation in the “Religious Conversions Consultation” at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion, October 2010.

“Conversions to Christianity, Conversions to Islam.” Presentation at the North Central regional meeting of the Evangelical Missiological Society, at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IL, February 2010.