Dr. Ryan Ramsey is a scholar of world Christianity, focused especially on Latin America and Pentecostal and Charismatic studies. His 2026 monograph, Teresa Urrea: A Religious Biography (Penn State University Press), tells the life of a late nineteenth century Mexican folk saint through several perspectives, drawing especially from the insights of world Christianity and decolonial discourses. His 2026 volume (co-edited with Anna Redhair Wells) The Five Distinctives of World Christianity: A Framework for Understanding a Global Faith (Baylor University Press) presents a framework for conceptualizing the study of world Christianity set within rich and productive discourse with ten contributors, following Carlos F. Cardoza-Orlandi’s legacy of teaching and scholarship. 

As a historian of Christianity engaged in the interdisciplinary field of world Christianity, his interests include decoloniality, historiography, ecumenism, Christian mission, and Indigenous religion(s). Generally speaking, he is concerned with the various modes in which charismatic Christianity finds shape across different religious traditions and cultures.

Previously he was visiting assistant professor of history and world Christianity at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, supported through the Vocation of the Theological Educator Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Louisville Institute. He has also taught at Baylor University and Seminary of the Southwest.

EDUCATION

• PhD, Religion (Historical Studies area), Baylor University, 2024
• Masters of Arts in Religion, Theology concentration, Yale Divinity School, 2019
• B.A., Biblical and Theological Studies, Lee University, 2014

Select Publications

• Teresa Urrea: A Religious Biography, World Christianity Series, Penn State University Press, 2026
• The Five Distinctives of World Christianity: A Framework for Understanding a Global Faith, edited with Anna Redhair Wells,Baylor University Press, 2026
• “Wagner’s Waves Model of Pentecostal Development,” Brill Encyclopedia of Global Pentecostalism: North American Supplement, eds. Andrea Johnson and Peter Althouse, Brill, 2026
• “Grade Inflation: An Ahistorical Narrative,” with Christopher J. Richmann, Inside Higher Ed, November 14, 2024
• “Ambiguous Borders: Curanderismo and World Christianity.” The Journal of Ecumenical Studies 59, no. 3, 2024
• “Decolonial Options for World Christianity: Thinking and Acting with Santa Teresa Urrea and Prophet Garrick Sokari Braide,” in Decolonial Horizons: Reimagining Theology, Ecumenism and Sacramental Praxis, eds. Raimundo C. Barreto and Vladimir Latinovic, Pathways for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue, 121–40,  Palgrave MacMillan: 2023
• “Disappointment in Early Pentecostalism: Toward a Historical Methodology.” Religions 13, no. 4, April 2022: 321

Select Honors

• Postdoctoral fellowship, Vocation of the Theological Educator, Louisville Institute, 2024–2026
• Recognition for excellence in teaching, Baylor Graduate School, 2024
• The Glenn O. and Martell Hilburn Endowed Graduate Research Scholarship, 2022
• Graymoor Scholar, Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute, 2022
• Academy for Teaching and Learning Graduate Fellowship, Baylor University, 2021–2024
• Leslie Newbigin House of Studies Scholarship, 2018

Outside The College

Ramsey enjoys walking and hiking with his wife, Ellie, and their two children. He can be seen around Holland ferrying their kids on a cargo e-bike and frequenting coffee shops (when he’s not roasting his own beans).