Chinese Christianities Unit
The Chinese Christianities Unit at the American Academy of Religion invites papers for the 2023 Annual Meeting that speak to themes that expand the breadth of what can be covered in the field of Chinese Christianities.
The Chinese Christianities Unit began as a seminar in 2015. From 2015-2019, the seminar explored various ways in which Chinese Christianities cross boundaries in regional, social, religious, and ecclesiological ways. In so doing, scholars in Chinese Christianities have developed understandings of the field that challenge the consistency of both the terms ‘Chinese’ and ‘Christianities,’ as both may refer to a range of phenomena in our burgeoning field of study. As a unit, the Chinese Christianities Unit has explored how terms like ‘Bible’ and ‘Sinophone’ are also germane to the expansion of what the field could entail, opening up multiple worlds that Chinese Christianities may inhabit.
As we continue to expand the scope of what Chinese Christianities could cover while being attentive to the AAR theme of ‘the work of our hands,’ we welcome papers that address the following topics:
- Chinese Christianities and war, especially with the upcoming anniversaries around Sino-Japanese wars
- Materiality in Chinese Christianities
- Comparative theology
- Comparing the ideological diversity in Chinese Christianities with other field signifiers, such as ‘Asian American’
- The emergence of Global China for Chinese Christianities
- Chinese Christianities and emergent ecological urgencies on the planet
This Unit 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, 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 unit 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.
| Chair | Dates | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Justin Tse | justintse@smu.edu.sg | - | View |
| Stephanie Wong | stephanie.wong@villanova… | - | View |