Dr. D.E. Mungello

Personally

Dr. David Emil Mungello died on July 4, 2026, after a prolonged battle with kidney disease.

He was born on November 20, 1943, in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania to Lois Louise Dittmar Mungello and Donald Dominic Mungello. David grew up working at his family’s movie businesses where was the projectionist at the Drive In Theater. David earned a B.A. in Philosophy from George Washington University in 1965. That same year he married Christine McKegg in the chapel of First Congregational Church in Washington, D.C. and the couple moved to California, where he attended UC Berkeley, earning an M.A. in Asian Studies (1969) and a Ph.D. in History (1973). Christine was his greatest supporter; she and their two children accompanied David on many research appointments abroad.

David wrote 11 books and founded and edited a journal (1979-2016) focused on post-Mao-era Chinese and Western historical scholarship. He is recognized as one of the foremost historians of early modern Sino-Western relations. David held teaching appointments at Lingnan College in Hong Kong, Briarcliff College in New York, and Coe College in Iowa before joining, in 1994, the Department of History at Baylor University, Waco TX. Upon his retirement in 2017, he was named Professor Emeritus of History.

Over the course of his life, Mungello shared his home with 11 Labrador Retrievers, each occupying a special place in his heart. He relished early-morning workouts at Baylor University’s Student Life Center, worshiped at Christ Church Waco and loved spending time with his family. David lost his wife Christine to cancer in 1997; her death was the greatest sorrow of his life.

David is survived by his daughter, Elise Anne Howard of Dallas, Texas; his son, Michael Campbell Mungello of Waco, Texas; his grandchildren, Dylan Pflum, Austin Pflum, Holden Howard, and Maddie Sue Pflum; his great-grandchild, Kennedy Pflum, daughter of his grandson Jordan and wife Kayla Pflum; and his siblings, Marianne Mungello Rohrer of St. Louis, Missouri, and Mark Mungello of Sicklerville, New Jersey.

Private family interment will take place at Oakwell Cementary in Waco, TX where he will be laid to rest next to his wife Christine. Memorials may be made to the National Kidney Foundation.

Academically

David Emil Mungello, PhD, internationally recognized historian of Sino-Western intellectual exchange, Christianity in China, and comparative cultural history, died on July 4, 2026, after a prolonged battle with kidney disease. He was 82.

Born in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania, on November 20, 1943, Mungello earned his B.A. in Philosophy from George Washington University in 1965 before pursuing graduate study at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received an M.A. in Asian Studies (1969) and a Ph.D. in History (1973). His doctoral dissertation on Leibniz and Confucianism became his first book, Leibniz and Confucianism: The Search for Accord (1977), establishing themes that would define his scholarly career: intercultural philosophy, comparative intellectual history, and the encounter between Europe and China.

Throughout more than five decades of scholarship, Mungello emerged as one of the foremost historians of early modern Sino-Western relations. His research fundamentally reshaped understanding of Jesuit accommodation, missionary scholarship, Chinese Christianity, and the intellectual foundations of European Sinology. Mungello wrote 11 books and founded and edited a journal (1979-2016) focused on post-Mao-era Chinese and Western historical scholarship.

His landmark studies include Jesuit Accommodation and the Origins of Sinology (1989), The Chinese Rites Controversy: Its History and Meaning (1994), The Forgotten Christians of Hangzhou (1994), The Great Encounter of China and the West, 1500–1800 (1999), The Spirit and the Flesh in Shandong, 1650–1785 (2001), Drowning Girls in China: Female Infanticide since 1650 (2008), Western Queers in China: Flight to the Land of Oz (2012), Remember This: A Family in America (2016), and The Silencing of Jesuit Figurist Joseph de Prémare in Eighteenth-Century China (2023).

Mungello's scholarship examined not only missionary history but also broader questions of comparative philosophy, Enlightenment thought, intercultural translation, gender history, religion, and the reciprocal ways in which China and Europe interpreted one another. His publications remain widely cited and continue to serve as foundational texts in courses on Chinese history, Christianity in China, Jesuit missions, East-West cultural exchange, and global intellectual history. His career was enriched by prestigious international fellowships, including an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellowship in West Germany and a Guest Scholarship at the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel. These appointments enabled archival research that profoundly influenced many of his later publications and strengthened international scholarly collaboration

He held teaching appointments at Lingnan College in Hong Kong, Briarcliff College in New York, and Coe College in Iowa before joining the Department of History at Baylor University, Waco TX in 1994. Upon his retirement in 2017, he was named Professor Emeritus of History.

Mungello was preceded in death by his wife of thirty-one years, Christine McKegg Mungello. He is survived by two children, five grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.

The family invites you to leave a message or memory of Dr. Mungello in his “Memorial Guestbook” at www.WHBfamily.com.