Transitions in AAR Chinese Christianities

This week, I submit the post-AAR (American Academy of Religion) conference report for the Chinese Christianities Unit, marking my final task as co-chair of the group. I step down not because I am less interested in the group or the field, but mainly due to AAR policies around leadership rotation. While I will undoubtedly pop my head into sessions as they progress, my formal relationship with the group I co-founded in 2014 has come to an end. It has been journey and, over the course of the 7+ years, I have learned quite a bit.

I started the group because of the absence of such a venue in the premier learned society in the study of religion. I had been attending AAR for a few years and always found it hard to find colleagues researching what I thought was a really important academic field: Chinese Christianity. I remember presenting a paper in one AAR and, after the session ended, one audience member asked, “So, are Chinese now able to produce their own theology?” Um… were you here when I delivered my 20min presentation on academic theological discourse in China? I remember leaving that session thinking I needed to find others researching Chinese Christianity.

IAMS Thematic Panel Group on Chinese Christianity — Call for Papers

 In the past 35 years, Chinese Christianity has gone through a period of unprecedented growth. It has become a global phenomenon beyond Asia. Not only are large numbers of Chinese people in the Mainland, who make up 20% of the world’s population, turning to Christ, it is also happening among the world’s largest diaspora. Chinese immigrants in Oceania, North America, and Europe are becoming Christians at increasing rates. In the twenty-first century, Chinese Christianity is a global reality, and the highly mobile nature of Chinese Christians raises important missiological questions. How is Chinese Christianity crossing borders and boundaries in the name of Christ?

Research has surfaced on various aspects of Chinese Christianity. Important work has been done on mission history, the emergence of Chinese indigenous Christianity, Christianity and the state, the social and cultural impacts of Chinese Christianity, theologies of Chinese Christianity, Chinese Christian arts, and many others.  Yet little has been conducted on Chinese missiology. 

We hereby call for paper submissions for the thematic panel group on Chinese Christianity for the International Association for Mission Studies 2020: https://missionstudies.org/index.php/iams-assembly-2020/.

Summer Intensive at Tyndale Seminary (July 2018)

This summer, I am very much looking forward to being in Toronto this summer to teach a 1-week intensive version of a class I teach in Edinburgh: Theologies in Global Contexts. If you know of somebody studying at Tyndale Seminary or in the Toronto area who may be interested, let them know. Here’s the promo video for the class:

Dr. Alexander Chow is teaching Theologies in Global Contexts this summer. Learn more: https://t.co/BkyYvqI6nd #TyndaleSem @caorongjin pic.twitter.com/fVGfymeUSM

— Tyndale Seminary (@TyndaleSEM) March 14, 2018

The course description is as follows:

AAR 2016: Chinese Christianities Seminar

At the 2016 meeting of the American Academy of Religion in November, we will have our second session of the Chinese Christianities Seminar. The theme for our program unit this year is ‘Crossing Social Boundaries’ and we have a great set of papers. It will be held on Sat, Nov 19 from 4:00pm-6:30pm in Grand Hyatt-Bowie C (2nd Level). I will be chairing the session and the papers that will be presented will be as follows:

AAR 2016: Chinese Christianities Seminar – Call for Papers

American Academy of Religion, 2016 Annual Meeting
Chinese Christianities Seminar – Call for Papers
Deadline for proposals: 1 March 2016

This seminar provides a collaborative forum for scholars of different disciplines to engage in an academic discourse about the field of Chinese Christianities. Christianity is the fastest growing religion in mainland China today, and arguably the religion of choice for a growing number of diasporic Chinese. “Chinese” is an expansive term, including mainland China proper as well as a large, linguistically, and culturally diverse diaspora, and encompassing more than a fifth of the world’s population; the Han Chinese people are sometimes described as the world’s largest ethnic group. Hence, with the increasing critical mass of Chinese Christians, there has likewise been a growing academic interest in various instantiations of Chinese Christianities, as understood across geographies (e.g., mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, North America, etc.) and groupings (e.g., house and state-sanctioned churches, Catholic, Pentecostal, etc.). Chinese Christianities both transcend and hinder a number of regional, social, religious, etc. boundaries. Over the course of these five years, this seminar will offer a unique opportunity for scholars to engage and to debate the implications of the multiplicity of Chinese Christianities with regards to the boundaries they engage.

Developing the overarching theme of “Chinese Christianities” and building on the first year theme of regional boundaries, this second year of the seminar will focus on various social boundaries. We welcome papers in the following or related areas: