Lessons in Hospitality From Missionary Monks: Mission as Hospitality
Dr. Ed Smither is a Professor of History fo Global Christianity and Dean of the College of Intercultureal studies at Columbia International University. From around AD 400 to 1600, the leading group of missionaries in the global church were monks and hospitality was one of their guiding values and strategies.
About the Contributors
Ed Smither
Ed Smither presently serves as Professor of History of Global Christianity and Dean of the College of Intercultural Studies at Columbia International University. He has authored or edited eleven books in history and theology of mission, including Mission in the Early Church (2014), Missionary Monks (2016), Christian Mission: A Concise Global History (2019), and his most recent work, Mission as Hospitality (2021). Ed is the past president of the Evangelical Missiological Society and presently serves as editor of the Journal of EMS. Before entering higher education, Ed served for 14 years in intercultural ministry in North Africa, France, and the United States.
Ed has been married to Shawn for 22 years and together they parent three teenagers: Brennan (18), Emma (16), and Eve (14). As a family they enjoy going to the beach and cheering for Clemson football. Ed loves biking the backroads of northwest Columbia, SC, and enjoys bold coffee, modern rock, and ancient hymns.
