Prof. Dr. Frederiks

Martha Frederiks (b. 1965) is distinguished university professor and rector magnificus at the Protestant Theological University in Utrecht, the Netherlands. She studied theology and Islamic studies at Utrecht University and at the Duncan Black Macdonald Institute in Hartford, Connecticut.  From 1993-1999 she lived and worked in West Africa in the field of Christian Muslim Relations. From 1999-2025 she worked at Utrecht University, where she earned her Ph.D. (2003, cum laude) for her study of Christianity in The Gambia. From 2007-to 2014, she held the endowed chair of Missiology. In 2014, she was appointed a full professor of the Study of World Christianity. From 2013 to 2019, she served as head of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies and from 2020 to 2024, she served as vice-dean for teaching of the Faculty of Humanities. In January 2021 Prof Martha Frederiks was appointed extraordinary professor in the Department of Religion Studies, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Pretoria.
Her research focuses on both historical and more recent developments in Christianity in Africa. From 2013 to 2024, she participated in the CMR1900 project on Christian-Muslim relations and from 2018 to 2024, she participated in the Madina Project. With Dorottya Nagy, she published Religion, Migration, and Identity. Methodological and Theological Explorations (Leiden, 2016; Open Access), World Christianity. Methodological Considerations (Leiden, 2020; Open Access) and Critical Readings in the History of Christian Mission, 4 vols. (Leiden, 2021). She is currently working with Maximilian Rose (Friedrich Schiller University, Jena) on a critical edition and translation of the writings of the African-born Moravian Christian Protten (1715-1769).