Sanneh was born and raised in Gambia as part of an ancient African royal family, and was a naturalized United States citizen.

[4] The Overseas Ministry Study Center (OMSC) at Princeton Theological Seminary created a research grant named in honor of Sanneh.

[7] Sanneh converted to Christianity from Islam and was a practicing Roman Catholic.

"[3][8] Another major area of Sanneh's academic work was in the study of World Christianity.

Instead of the dominant view that Christian mission primarily propagated "cosmopolitan values of an ascendant West," he argues, "The translation role of missionaries cast them as unwitting allies of mother-tongue speakers and as reluctant opponents of colonial domination.