The third volume in the series Modern Chinese Theologies expands the scope of "China" and Chinese theology. It addresses two distinct groups: scholarship by mainland Chinese academics, and the writings of Chinese-speaking theologians beyond China, including the diasporic Sinophone worlds of East and Southeast Asia.
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Summary
The third volume in the series Modern Chinese Theologies expands the scope of "China" and Chinese theology. It addresses two distinct groups: scholarship by mainland Chinese academics, and the writings of Chinese-speaking theologians beyond China, including the diasporic Sinophone worlds of East and Southeast Asia.
Description
It is well known that the Chinese church (and therefore Chinese theology) has been divided in the People's Republic of China into "registered" and "unregistered" churches, and that while the state-approved church offers theologies that align with the nation's socialist values, the unregistered or house churches have tended toward an evangelical theology that is now divaricating with the resurgence of denominations in China. What is less well known is that there has been a vibrant third field of Chinese theology: Sino-Christian theology, a contested, academic discourse that makes no claims to be a confessional theology. This theology, fostered by academics in secular Chinese universities, developed in the 1990s and has grown and diversified with the increasing number of scholars researching Christianity in China. This volume offers essays on the message of Chinese Christian art, for example, alongside textual and Christological studies. The phenomenon of Sino-Christian theology, along with debates on its right to exist (if not authored by professing Christians), overlaps with broader debates on the nature of a "Chinese theology" and its unifying features.
The second part of the volume draws together nine essays on theological concerns in the Chinese diaspora. These range from the nature of diasporic experience itself to studies of individual writers, and from fundamentalist beliefs in Singapore to a queer theology academy in Hong Kong. Although Hong Kong is part of mainland China, given its history and the "one country, two systems" policy still in place, several essays on Hong Kong theologians are included here among diasporic writings. Three essays focusing on Taiwanese subjects include reflections on the role of Christian philosophy in the legal thought of John C. H. Wu, a reassessment of homeland theology in light of the nationalist resurgence, and the creative "theology of Yi" based on the Book of Changes, Yijing.
About the Author
Chloë Starr is professor of Asian Christianity at Yale Divinity School. She has published widely on Chinese literature and Chinese theology. Her works include Chinese Theology: Text and Context (2016); a coedited textbook, Documenting China (2011); a monograph, Red-Light Novels of the Late Qing (2007); a coedited volume, The Quest for Gentility in China (Routledge, 2007, 2009); and an edited volume, Reading Christian Scriptures in China (2008). She holds honorary posts at Renmin University of China, where she teaches regularly, and at the Institute of Sino-Christian Studies, Hong Kong.
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