OKH Rising: The Rise of the “On Knowing Humanity” Project in the Context of Today’s Anthropology

Abstract

When the initiative eventually named the “On Knowing Humanity Project” was first announced, the present author was concerned about potentially negative impacts on the small but growing community of Christian anthropologists who were beginning to find their place in the discipline after decades of sidelining. Those concerns turned out to be misplaced, as the initiative has been conducted professionally and intelligently. The present article outlines three steps in the initiative’s public introduction and institu-tionalization. A seminal article in the journal Current Anthropology helped to establish the initiative’s scholarly credibility. A book published by noted scholarly publisher Routledge further established credibility, and the On Knowing Humanity (OKH) Journal has helped to begin institutionalizing the initiative in a way that has been drawing an increasing range of participants. The present article sets out the author’s initial concerns and then reviews favorably each of these three developments.