11 Facts About Andrew Walls

Andrew Finlay Walls was a British historian of missions, best known for his pioneering studies of the history of the African church and a pioneer in the academic field of World Christianity.

Andrew Walls studied theology at Exeter College, Oxford, receiving a first-class degree in 1948, and completed his graduate studies in the early Church in 1956 under the patristics scholar Frank Leslie Cross.

Andrew Walls taught at Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Andrew Walls was later appointed to a post in ecclesiastical history in the University of Aberdeen in 1966, before being the first head of the Department of Religious studies in the University of Aberdeen.

Andrew Walls founded the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World, first at the University of Aberdeen in 1982, before moving it to the University of Edinburgh in 1987, a year after he moved to Edinburgh.

Andrew Walls was a city councilor for Aberdeen and ran for Parliament in 1970 as the Labour candidate for the Banffshire constituency.

Andrew Walls received an honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from the University of Aberdeen in 1993, followed by a second one from the University of Edinburgh in 2018, in recognition of his scholarly contributions to the study of Christianity in Africa and the non-Western world.

Andrew Walls died on 12 August 2021 in Aberdeen after a period of hospitalisation.

Andrew Walls was part of Aberdeen Methodist Church for over 50 years, and was active as a preacher through the North of Scotland Mission Circuit.

Andrew Walls's pioneering research led the magazine Christianity Today to describe him in 2007 as 'a historian ahead of his time' and 'the most important person you don't know'.

When he first returned to Scotland, Andrew Walls taught Ecclesiastical History in the University of Aberdeen in 1966.