News of the extended network of faculty, alumni, students, visiting researchers, and mission partners is regularly updated, and some of the big ideas or major events in Global Christianity are covered in the CGCM News.
Call for Papers: Central and Eastern European Association for Mission Studies
The Central and Eastern European Association for Mission Studies (CEEAMS) is holding their annual meeting on February 23-25, 2021. This year's theme is "Mission Matters: Trends, Challenges, and New Perspectives in Christian Mission in Central and Eastern Europe." To submit a paper proposal, please send an abstract of no more than 300 words to ceeams@ceeams.org by December 15, 2020 with the subject heading: CA2021 / [your name].
Learn more details about the conference at the CEEAMS website.
Call for Abstracts from the US-China Catholic Association
The US-China Catholic Association is currently accepting paper abstracts for its conference on “China, Christianity, and the Dialogue of Civilizations,” to take place August 6-8, 2021 on the campus of Santa Clara University. The theme of this conference is the engagement between Christianity and Chinese civilization. Panels may examine this theme in light of recent challenges, the larger horizon of shared values, and/or pursuit of the common good. Submissions will be accepted on a rolling basis beginning on December 1. Panel topics will include the following:
• The Sino-Vatican Accord in Historical and Comparative Perspective
• Sinicization of Religion: Meaning and Application
• China and Environmental Stewardship: The Contribution of the Churches
• Urbanization and Its Far-Reaching Implications
• The Coronavirus, The Global Community, and the Church
• Sino-Christian Theology: Chinese Intellectuals Engage Christian Tradition
• Chinese Christian Spirituality
• Civic Controversy in Hong Kong and Christian Community
• Young People and Contemporary Society
• Women and Faith Communities in China Today
See the Call for Papers for more information.
2021 Yale-Edinburgh Group Meeting on “Oral, Print, & Digital Cultures”
The Yale-Edinburgh Group will be meeting virtually on June 22-24, 2021. See the announcement below from Drs. Emma Wild-Wood and Alex Chow.
We are delighted to announce the 2021 Yale-Edinburgh Group annual meeting will take place in a virtual environment. The meeting will be held June 22 to June 24, 2021 and will be hosted by the University of Edinburgh.The theme of this year’s conference will be Oral, Print, and Digital Cultures in World Christianity and the History of Mission. You can learn more about the theme at http://divinity-adhoc.library.yale.edu/Yale- Edinburgh/2021theme.htm A call for proposals will go out to the Yale-Edinburgh email list in January 2021. Additional information regarding the conference will also be provided on the Group’s website http://divinity-adhoc.library.yale.edu/Yale- Edinburgh/in the New Year. Proposals submitted last year have not been kept. We ask that new proposals will be submitted once the call is out.We look forward to connecting with you in 2021.Alex Chow and Emma Wild-WoodCo-Directors of Centre for the Study of World Christianity, Edinburgh
Digital Humanities: Mapping Christianity in China
On November 19-21, 2020, the Center for Global Christianity and Mission convened a workshop on “Mapping Christianity in China, 1550-1950.” The Center launched the China Historical Christian Database (CHCD) project in 2018 to map where every Christian church, school, hospital, monastery, orphanage, publishing house, and the like were located in China between 1550 and 1950. The project also seeks to identify who worked inside those buildings, both foreigners and Chinese. The goal is to build a tool that can create spatial maps of when and where Christians were located in China, and a resource that can generate social network maps of Christian actors.
The workshop was designed to mark a milestone in the project. The China Historical Christian Database is exiting its proof-of-concept phase (beta version). Before dramatically upscaling, it was important to get input from various stakeholders. The Boston University Center for the Study of Asia (BUCSA) and the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs (CURA) provided the funds that allowed 266 people from twenty-eight countries to attend the virtual event. Scholars, computer scientists, and archivists worked together to lay out a pathway for the CHCD to become transformative for the study of modern China and modern Chinese Christianity. The sessions were recorded and are available at chcdatabase.com.
New Videos: Political and Popular Theology in Chinese Christian Posters
At the Overseas Ministry Study Center at Princeton Seminary, Dr. Daryl Ireland recently gave two rich visual presentations using Chinese Christian evangelistic posters to uncover the political and popular theology of revivalistic Chinese Protestantism in the mid-20th century. These two presentations are now available at the CGCM's YouTube page. Check them out below!
BU Undergrad Earns Prize for Work on China Historical Christian Database
Solomon Shuangyu Liang, a BU undergrad history major, has just received the Outstanding Student Researcher Award for his excellent work with the China Historical Christian Database. Liang has received 4 grants from the BU undergraduate research program (UROP) over his years at the university. Liang will also be helping to facilitate the workshop highlighting the capacities of the Database, which will take place on November 19-21, under the leadership of CGCM affiliates Dr. Daryl Ireland, Dr. Eugenio Menegon, and Alex Mayfield.
Read more about Liang's story here!
New Book: Making Christ Present in China
Congratulations to Dr. Michel Chambon, who has just published Making Christ Present in China: Actor Network Theory and the Anthropology of Christianity with Palgrave Macmillan. The work focuses on material culture and uses actor-network theory to investigate the development of Christianity in Nanping, China. Dr. Chambon, who graduated with a PhD in anthropology, was an affiliate of the CGCM while studying at BU.
Zimbabwean Gospel Music: Upcoming Presentation with Filmmaker Dr. Jim Ault
We are pleased to welcome award-winning documentary filmmaker Dr. Jim Ault, who will visit BU virtually to give a presentation on his new film, Machanic Manyeruke: The Life of Zimbabwe's Gospel Music Legend, on November 24. The presentation will take place from 12:30pm-1:45pm EST.
If you would like to attend Dr. Ault's presentation, please email Morgan Crago (mcrago@bu.edu) to request the Zoom link.
See a preview of the work below!
Jonathan Calvillo Interviewed on His Work on Faith & Ethnicity in Santa Ana
In October, Dr. Jonathan Calvillo's new book, The Saints of Santa Ana: Faith and Ethnicity in a Mexican Majority City, is coming out with Oxford University Press! In this audio interview, Calvillo explains how his experience of growing up as a child of Mexican immigrants and attending pentecostal churches first directed him to this field of research. In addition, he gives an overview of the chapters of the book, elaborates on his comparative findings on Catholics and evangelicals, and argues for why his work is important for the wider field of World Christianity.
After describing the surprises he uncovered in the historical side of his research, Calvillo closes with a reflection on the similarities between the religious practice of the immigrants of Santa Ana with those of Christians around the world. He urged that “if the Christian church in the US wants to remain intelligible to Christian churches in other parts of the world,” it must look to this “beautiful and wonderful resource in the immigrant communities within our borders.”
Workshop: Mapping Christianity in China, 1550-1950
Dr. Daryl Ireland, Dr. Eugenio Menegon, and Alex Mayfield are hosting a workshop entitled "Mapping Christianity in China, 1550-1950: Developing Relational and Geospatial Tools for the Study of Christianity in China," which will showcase their China Historical Christian Database. The database is a geo-spacial tool that allows scholars to see the interconnections between all kinds of Christian leaders, groups, and institutions in China across four centuries.
Check out the workshop program to see what is being highlighted each day. To register for the event, click here.
Watch CGCM PhD candidate Alex Mayfield describe the workings of the database in this video: