Dr. Michael A. Rynkiewich
Director of Postgraduate Studies
Professor of Anthropology
Expertise:
- Anthropology Theory and Research
- Missionary Context and Training
- Values and Ethics in Cross-Cultural Perspectives
- Colonial and Post-Colonial Paradigms.
Education:
- B.A., Bethel College, 1966; M.A., University of Minnesota, 1968; Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1972; M.Div., Asbury Theological Seminary, 1994.
Dr. Rynkiewich joined the Asbury faculty in 2002 after serving with the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church as a missionary in Papua New Guinea. His early research was in the Marshall Islands in Micronesia, and his early career involved teaching at Macalester College in St. Paul. His early books dealt with anthropologists looking at American culture, The Nacirema (1975), ethical issues involved in doing research, Ethics and Anthropology (1976), and an archaeological survey, Traders, Teachers and Soldiers: An Anthropological Survey of Colonial Era Sites on Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands (1981). He has worked in the business world, and has pastored churches as an elder in the South Indiana Conference. His recent work includes Politics in Papua New Guinea (2000) and Land and Churches in Melanesia (2001), and two years as the editor of the journal Catalyst: Social Pastoral Journal for Melanesia, continuing to pursue the work of the church in mission in cultural and social context. He is a long time member of the Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania. He has two older children by his deceased wife, Linda: Adam and Tanya; and three children with his wife Teresa: Katharina, and twins Don Jacob and Michael Joseph.