T. Jack Thompson
Born	(1943-02-16)16 February 1943
Died	10 August 2017(2017-08-10) (aged 74)
Occupation	Scholar ofmissions
Known for	History of missions and African Christianity
Spouse	Phyllis
Academic work
Discipline	Missiology,African Christianity
Institutions	Selly Oak Colleges,University of Edinburgh,University of Livingstonia

T. Jack Thompson (16 February 1943 – 10 August 2017) was anIrishmission historian and scholar ofAfrican Christianity.

After studying history atQueen's University Belfast, Thompson taught history and religious education at Regent House School in Newtownards.^[1][2] Thompson and his wife Phyllis first travelled toMalawi as missionaries of thePresbyterian Church of Ireland in 1970. He later developed an academic interest in the study of missions history and Christianity in Africa.

Thompson returned to the United Kingdom and completed his PhD studies at theUniversity of Edinburgh in 1980, on the subject ofFree Church of Scotland missionaryDonald Fraser.^[1] He taughtmission studies in theSelly Oak Colleges in Birmingham, before taking up a post in the 1993 inmission studies atNew College,University of Edinburgh. It was in the latter institution that, from 2005 to 2008, he served as the director of theCentre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World and edited the journalStudies in World Christianity.^[3] During his time in Scotland, he became a leading figure in relations between Scotland and Malawi, including through theScotland Malawi Partnership.^[4] Ahead of his retirement from the University of Edinburgh, Thompson travelled back to Malawi and was bestowed theNgoni name Jabulani Jere.^[5] He was an elder inSt Andrew's and St George's West Church, Edinburgh.

After retiring from Edinburgh in 2008,^[6] he served a year as Vice-Chancellor of theUniversity of Livingstonia and was later anHonorary fellow at the University of Edinburgh.^[7]

Thompson died of cancer on 10 August 2017 in the Marie Curie Hospice, Edinburgh, and services were held on 31 August 2017.^[8][9][10]

• Thompson, T. Jack (1995).Christianity in Northern Malaŵi: Donald Fraser's Missionary Methods and Ngoni Culture. Leiden: Brill.ISBN 90-04-10208-6.
• Thompson, T. Jack (2000).Touching the Heart: Xhosa Missionaries to Malawi, 1876-1888. Pretoria: University of South Africa.ISBN 978-1-86888-140-6.
• Thompson, T. Jack (2007).Ngoni, Xhosa and Scot: Religious and Cultural Interaction in Malawi. Zomba, Malawi: Kachere Series.ISBN 978-99908-87-17-4.
• Thompson, T. Jack (2012).Light on Darkness? Missionary Photography of Africa in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.ISBN 978-0-8028-6524-3.

• Centre for the Study of World Christianity,New College, Edinburgh

• 1943 births
• 2017 deaths
• Christian missions in Africa
• Academics of the University of Edinburgh
• Religion academics
• World Christianity scholars
• History of Christianity in Africa
• Presbyterian missionaries in Malawi
• 20th-century Irish historians
• Alumni of the University of Edinburgh School of Divinity

• EngvarB from February 2018
• Use dmy dates from February 2018
• Articles with hCards
• Place of birth missing