I am quite heavy-hearted from the news of Andrew Walls’s passing. He founded the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World (now, the Centre for the Study of World Christianity), which I am a part of and now co-direct. So, at a basic level, I would not have a job if it weren’t for him. But on a deeper level, he has shaped a lot of who I am.
Continue reading “Andrew Walls (1928–2021)”Oral, Print, and Digital Cultures in World Christianity and the History of Mission
New College, University of Edinburgh, 25–27 June 2020
Proposals due: March 6, 2020
Registration deadline: March 30, 2020
The next meeting of the Yale-Edinburgh Group on World Christianity and the History of Mission will take place in New College, University of Edinburgh, from 25–27 June 2020. The theme will be Oral, Print, and Digital Cultures in World Christianity and the History of Mission.
Studies in world Christianity and the history of mission have not been afraid to engage the topic of culture. However, they have mostly referred to the encounters of Western Christian cultures with another, whether that be Confucian and Hindu culture, or the indigenous cultures of the Americas, Africa, and Oceania. This year’s theme uses the language of culture to speak about three different mediums in which the Christian message is communicated and the Christian life is practiced. These cultures have developed somewhat chronologically, but they also simultaneously coexist in the contemporary world. Continue reading→
A number of years ago, I presented a paper at a learned society for the study of religion about Sino-Christian theology. The first question I was asked was, ‘So, are Chinese now able to produce their own theology?’ I was taken aback by this question. On the one hand, it seemed as though the questioner had not paid attention to my 20min paper that focused on the ingenuities of a scholarly movement in the 1990s in offering theological approaches to China’s sociopolitical concerns. (I didn’t think I was that boring!) On the other hand, it was as though this person was not aware that, since the early 20th century, there has been a very fruitful development of Christian theology in China. One of the greats, of course, was T. C. Chao (or Zhao Zichen 趙紫宸, 1888–1979), whose five-volume collected works were published a few years earlier, and who was elected as one of the six presidents of the World Council of Churches in 1948. Yet, why should I expect him to know about a figure like Chao—such an esoteric figure. At the same time, there are many theologians in Europe and North America who are likewise esoteric, but no less important.
Continue reading “Systematic Theology around the Globe”
American Academy of Religion, 2019 Meeting
Chinese Christianities Seminar CfP
Deadline for proposals: 4 March 2019
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.
In the first four years of this program unit, the sessions have explored how the multiplicity of Chinese Christianities both transcend and hinder a number of boundaries: (1) regional, (2) social, (3) religious, and (4) ecclesiological. In this fifth and final year, the program unit would like to explore the broader conceptualization of the field, itself. Namely, why is it important to speak about Chinese Christianities? Papers can engage micro- or macro-case studies, focus on theoretical concerns, or challenge methodological presuppositions. We welcome papers in the following or related areas:
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:
The course description is as follows: Continue reading “Summer Intensive at Tyndale Seminary (July 2018)”
Alexander Chow 