Harry Sawyerr (theologian)
Sierra Leonean theologian (1909–1986)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Harry Alphonso Ebun Sawyerr MBE (9 October 1909 – August 1986) was a Sierra Leonean Anglican theologian and writer on African religion.[1] He became principal of Fourah Bay College and Vice Chancellor of the University of Sierra Leone.[2]
Sawyerr studied initially at Fourah Bay College, later moving to England to study at the main campus of Durham University.[3] He successively earned Bachelor of Arts (1933), Master of Arts (1936) and Master of Education (1940) degrees.[3]
Harry Sawyerr was influenced by Thomas Sylvester Johnson, the first assistant bishop of Sierra Leone.[4]
Works
- Creative Evangelism: towards a new Christian encounter with Africa, London: Lutterworth, 1968.
- God: Ancestor or Creator? Aspects of traditional belief in Ghana, Nigeria & Sierra Leone, London: Longmans, 1970
- "The Earth-Goddess" in Founders of Religions: Christianity and Other Religions. Rome: Gregorian University Press, 1984.
- The Practice of Presence: Shorter Writings of Harry Sawyerr. Ed. John Parratt. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996.
- "Sacrifice" in Biblical Revelation and African Beliefs. Ed. Kwesi Dickson and Paul Ellingworth, 57-82. London: Lutterworth Press, 1969.
- (with William Thomas Harris.) The Springs of Mende Belief and Conduct: a discussion of the influence of the belief in the supernatural among the Mende Freetown: Sierra Leone Univ. Press, 1968.
- "Traditions in Transit" in Religion in a Pluralistic Society, ed. J. S. Pobee, 85-96. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1976.
