May 2025 | LISLE, IL—Samuel Escobar, a renowned Latin American theologian and missiologist, died on April 29, 2025, at the age of 90.
“Samuel Escobar was a figure of truly world-historical proportions. From his theological scholarship that opened the eyes of many to ‘the liberating Savior’ and his leadership in the Lausanne Movement to his mentorship of generations who have followed, we stand happily in debt to him and to the Lord who called him for such wide-ranging service,” said Jon Boyd, Associate Publisher and Academic Editorial Director at InterVarsity Press (IVP).
Escobar was born in Arequipa, Peru. He studied arts and education at San Marcos University in Lima, Peru. He earned a PhD from the Complutense University in Madrid, Spain. Escobar served with the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) in Latin America for twenty-six years, from 1959 to 1985, and is a past honorary president of IFES. He also spent three years, from 1972 to 1975, as general director of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) Canada. Escobar was professor of missiology at Palmer Theological Seminary, from 1985 to 2005, and taught at Facultad Protestante de Teología of the Spanish Baptist Union in Alcobendas (Madrid), Spain (full biography available at palmerseminary.edu).
“The impact of Samuel Escobar’s life and ministry on the global church cannot be overstated. He was not only one of the pioneers of the Lausanne Movement and the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students in Latin America (twenty-six years in campus ministry), he laid the theological foundations for ‘integral mission’—an understanding of mission that integrated evangelism with social responsibility. His books and teaching, and his humility and grace, have influenced generations of InterVarsity/USA students and graduates as well as ministry leaders from many other evangelical movements, seminaries, and churches around the world,” said Tom Lin, President of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA and Trustee of the Lausanne Movement.
The Lausanne Movement began in 1974 with the First Lausanne Congress convened by Billy Graham in Lausanne, Switzerland. Escobar was one of the pioneers of the movement and first congress alongside René Padilla and John Stott. The Lausanne Movement unites the global church around mission, evangelism, and the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
Boyd added, “Dr. Escobar was a joy to work with on In Search of Christ in Latin America, the English translation of his influential work, En busca de Cristo en América Latina. I imagine it must have seemed to him like just a bit of icing on the cake of an already monumental career in scholarship, ministry, and leadership, but for those of us at InterVarsity Press, it was a brush with greatness.”
Oscar García-Johnson, Professor of Theology and Decolonial Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, said, “I know of no other work within Protestantism that has achieved what Escobar did in this book [In Search of Christ in Latin America]—not another modern Christology of sorts but the path for the construction of Original Christology from the context of the American Global South, beyond normative occidentalized theological attempts.” Escobar’s other books include The New Global Mission, Dictionary of Mission Theology, and La Palabra: Vida de la Iglesia.
Cindy Bunch, IVP’s Divisional Vice President of Editorial, said, “We have lost one of our great Christian leaders with the passing of Dr. Samuel Escobar. I am grateful that I was able to hear him teach at the Urbana missions conferences. He was a wise biblical scholar and a pioneering leader of the Lausanne conferences with René Padilla and John Stott. It is an honor to have his work in the IVP list.”
Contact: Karin DeHaven, kdehaven@ivpress.com
