Hans Werner Debrunner (1923 –1998) was a

Swiss German Swiss German (Standard German: , gsw, Schwiizerdütsch, Schwyzerdütsch, Schwiizertüütsch, Schwizertitsch Mundart,Because of the many different dialects, and because there is no defined orthography for any of them, many different spelling ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

and

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

whose work mainly covered mission history,

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

and the

African diaspora The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from native Africans or people from Africa, predominantly in the Americas. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the West and Central Africans who were e ...

. He also carried out academic research on history relating to missiology in northern, eastern and southern Africa. Upon his death in 1998, his private library and archive were donated to the ''Carl Schlettwein Foundation''. The "independent, self-contained collection" comprises more than 3100 books and single journal issues on his area of specialty, published mostly in the first half to mid-twentieth century. Furthermore, Debrunner’s academic archives are a compilation of

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

and

ethnography Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

, particularly bio-bibliographies of Swiss missionaries and native African pastors and missionaries who worked with the

Basel Mission The Basel Mission was a Christian missionary society based in Switzerland. It was active from 1815 to 2001, when it transferred the operative work to , the successor organization of ''Kooperation Evangelischer Kirchen und Missione'' (KEM), found ...

in Africa. Debrunner also documented history, socio-political and intercultural relations between

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. Hans Debrunner’s accounts explored the life and works of African saints, royalty, aristocrats, noblemen, political envoys, writers, intellectuals, scholars and artists who lived in or visited Europe from the early

medieval period In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

through

the Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment; german: Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie, "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, La Ilustración, "Enlightenment" was an intel ...

until the end of the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

era.

Selected works

*''“Anfaenge Evangelischer Missionarbeit auf der Goldküste bis 1828,”'' ''Evangelisches Missions Magazin'', Basel (1954). *''"Friedrich Pedersen Svane, 1710-1789." Evangelisches Missions-Magazin 101 (1957): 24-35'' *''"Witchcraft in Ghana: A Study on the Belief in Destructive Witches and Its Effect on the Akan Tribes"'' Accra: Presbyterian Book Depot (1961) *''"Pioneers of church and education in Ghana : Danish chaplains to Guinea, 1661-1850"'' (1962) In Kirkehistoriske Samlinger 7:4, edited by Niels Knud Andersen and Knud Banning, 373-425. Copenhagen: G. E. C. Gads Forlani, 1960-62 *''"A Church between Colonial Powers: A Study of the Church in

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...

" World studies of churches in mission'' Lutterworth Press (1965) *''"Owura Nico, the Rev.

Nicholas Timothy Clerk Nicholas Timothy Clerk (28 October 1862 – 16 August 1961) was a Protestant theologian, clergyman and pioneering missionary of the Basel Evangelical Missionary Society in southeast colonial Ghana. His father was the Jamaican Moravian mission ...

, 1862-1961: pioneer and church leader" (translated by Susanne Mainzer)'' Pioneer series Accra: Waterville Pub. House (1965) *''"The story of Sampson Opong"'' Pioneer series Accra: Waterville Pub. House (1965) *''"A history of Christianity in Ghana,"'' Accra: Waterville Pub. House (1967) *''"Mitteilungen der Basler Afrika Bibliographien, Volume 22"'' Basel: Basler Afrika Bibliographien (1979) * "''Presence and Prestige - Africans in Europe: A History of Africans in Europe before 1918,"'' Communications from the Basel Africa Bibliography Volume 22, Basler Afrika Bibliographien (1979) *''"Pride and Prejudice,"'' Basler Afrika Bibliographien (1979) *''"Afrikaliteratur in Basler Bibliotheken: Bibliothek und Dokumentation COOP Schweiz"'' Basel: Basler Afrika Bibliographien (1982) *''(contrib.)'' Trappe Paul ''"Entwicklungssoziologie"'' Basel: Social Strategies Publishers Cooperative (1984) *''"Schweizer im kolonialen Afrika"'' Volume 9 of Beiträge zur Afrikakunde, Basler Afrika Bibliographien (1991) *''"Grégoire l'Européen:

Henri Grégoire Henri Jean-Baptiste Grégoire (; 4 December 1750 – 28 May 1831), often referred to as the Abbé Grégoire, was a French Catholic priest, Constitutional bishop of Blois and a revolutionary leader. He was an ardent slavery abolitionist and sup ...

1750-1831; kontinentale Beziehungen eines französischen Patrioten"'' Anif/Salzburg: Müller-Speiser (1997)

References

1923 births 1998 deaths 20th-century Christian theologians 20th-century Swiss historians Protestant theologians Swiss Christian theologians {{Switzerland-bio-stub