Paul Kollman, CSC

Associate Professor
Hesburgh Trustee, University of Notre Dame

Primary Area: World Religions and World Church

Secondary Area: History of Christianity

Headshot of a smiling priest wearing a black suit jacket and clerical collar against a gray background. He wears clear-framed glasses.
Office
231 Malloy Hall
Notre Dame, IN 46556-4619
Phone
+1 574-631-3873
Email
pkollman@nd.edu

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Biography

Paul Kollman, C.S.C., a Catholic priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross, is Associate Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. He also serves as a fellow in the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion, and the Nanovic Institute for European Studies. He has taught in the past at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago; Queen of Apostles Philosophy Centre, Jinja, Uganda; and Tangaza University College, Nairobi, Kenya, and has been a visiting scholar at the Center for World Catholicism at DePaul University and at the Church Mission Society in Oxford, UK.

Kollman’s research focuses on African Christianity, mission history, and world Christianity, with special attention to Catholic experiences in eastern Africa. His most recent book is Understanding World Christianity: Eastern Africa (2018), co-authored with Cynthia Toms Smedley. His first book, The Evangelization of Slaves and Catholic Origins in Eastern Africa, was named an outstanding book in mission studies in 2006. He is currently preparing an edited volume on comparative approaches to holiness and sanctity, as well as advancing a manuscript on the history of Catholic missionary evangelization in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania.

Research Interests

African Christianity, mission history, mission studies, world Christianity

Selected Publications

The Evangelization of Slaves and Catholic Origins in Eastern Africa. Published by Orbis Books in the American Society of Missiology series. Appeared December 2005. 353 pp + foreword, maps, photos, index. Honored as an outstanding book in mission studies by the International Bulletin of Missionary Research for 2006.

Understanding World Christianity: Christianity in Eastern Africa. Co-authored with Cynthia Toms-Smedley. Published by Augsburg Fortress Press in their World Christianity Series. September 2018. 375 pp + foreword, map, index. 

“The Urgent Demands of the Present: Missiological Discernment in a Wounded World.” Mission Studies 39:2, 139-162. June 2022. 

“Considering Benedict Options: Missiological Reflections in a Fractious Age.” Missiology 46:1, 7-22. January 2018. 

Education

  • B.A., University of Notre Dame
  • M.Div., University of Notre Dame
  • Ph.D., University of Chicago Divinity School