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Call for Papers: Translation, Literature, and Publishing in Chinese Christianities
Co-organised by the History Research Centre (Manchester Metropolitan University) and the Centre for Sino-Christian Studies (Hong Kong Baptist University)
An international conference on translation, literature, and publishing in Chinese Christianities will be held at Manchester Metropolitan University on 18 and 19 June 2020. Scholars are invited to submit abstracts for papers exploring one or more of the conference themes.
Conference Themes
The history of Chinese Christianities is inseparable from the work of missionaries and Chinese Christians in producing and disseminating Chinese Christian texts. The religious ideas that inspired the Taiping Rebellion, for example, were rooted in Hong Xiuquan’s reading of a Chinese Bible and Liang Fa’s Good Words to Admonish the Age. While older historical works tended to stress the agency and work of foreign missionaries, more recent scholarship has brought to light the role played by Chinese individuals in the interrelated processes of translation and localisation.
Building on this foundation, the conference aims to explore the contributions of both foreign and Chinese Christians to the translation of Christian texts into the Chinese language and the creation of Chinese Christian literature. The conference also aims to explore the impact of printing technologies on the spread of Christianity among the Chinese and the ways in which Christian publishing stimulated technological innovation in Chinese printing. The conference will focus on the period from Robert Morrison’s arrival in China (1807) to the present. The organisers will, however, also consider papers that look at translation, literature, and publishing during earlier periods in the history of Chinese Christianities.
Theoretically, the conference is rooted in a fundamental acknowledgement that Christianity is constantly transforming itself through its interactions with different languages and cultures around the world. This process of transformation has turned Christianity into a globally local religion and has contributed to the emergence of many diverse forms of Christianity in China and the Chinese-speaking world. Rather than looking at an abstract, singular Christianity in China, the conference seeks to explore translation, literature, and publishing in multiple Chinese Christianities.
Please send your paper title and a 200-word abstract to c.kilcourse@mmu.ac.uk by 30 September 2019.
Contact Information
Dr Carl Kilcourse, Senior Lecturer in East Asian History, Manchester Metropolitan University, c.kilcourse@mmu.ac.uk
Dr George Kam Wah Mak, Assistant Professor of Religion and Philosophy, Hong Kong Baptist University, ggkwmak@hkbu.edu.hk
Call for Papers: Pentecostal Strategies of Public Engagement
11th GloPent ConferenceBasel, February 14-15, 2020
The eleventh international and interdisciplinary conference of the European Research Network on Global Pentecostalism (GloPent.net) will be held on 14–15 February 2020 at the University of Basel, Switzerland.
Conference Theme: Pentecostal Strategies of Public Engagement
Convenor / contact: Andreas Heuser (andreas.heuser@unibas.ch)
Call for Papers
The growing evidence of Pentecostal public engagement has attracted academic attention, espe- cially, but not exclusively in arenas of the Global South. Recent explorations of the global ‘Charis - matic city’, the notion of an African ‘Pentecostal republic’, or assertions about ‘property Christianity’ in China point to peculiar Pentecostal taxonomies in the public realm. Pentecostal politics of public prayer, ‘spiritual warfare’ or ‘crusades’ seek to transform religious landscapes, while ‘Dominionist’ theologies claim to transcend narrow Pentecostal interests in order to ad- vocate the common good. Megachurches establish networks to access political, economic and cultural elites. Prosperity theologies also target social transformations and partly enable struc- tural innovations in economic life. The Pentecostal media revolution with its constitutive ele- ments of religious broadcasting and publishing interferes in local public discourses; professionalized e-church performances disseminate transcultural strategies to impact a given political culture. Whether Pentecostal migrant communities in the Global North are pursuing a strategic ‘reverse mission’ to ‘conquer secular nations for Christ’ remains open to debate.
Thus, Pentecostalism entails a variety of modes, forms and patterns of public mobilization or a religious mobilisation of public realms, which are the theme of this conference. Our keynote speakers will address a diversity of public strategies in the Global South: Heinrich Schäfer (Uni- versity of Bielefeld) will discuss Pentecostal political agendas in Latin America; Ilana van Wyk (University of Stellenbosch) focuses on Pentecostal public strategies in Southern Africa; and Nanlai Cao (Renmin University, Beijing) will address Pentecostal patterns of public engagement in China and within the Chinese diaspora.
This call for papers invites contributions to our parallel panels. We are particularly interested in presentations that study concepts, strategies and agendas of how Pentecostals shape public spheres. Papers may present case studies or comparative analyses of Pentecostal strategies of public engagement. What are peculiar issues, themes, and areas of Pentecostal public engage- ment? How do Pentecostal communication, network and support structures look like in specific contexts? Last but not least: what are the limits of Pentecostal theo-political imaginations, and who are opponents of Pentecostal strategies to direct and redirect of public opinion making?
Proposals for entire panels or individual papers from current research on a different aspect of Pentecostal Christianity are also welcome, but we advise to contact the conference organiser be- fore submitting your abstract.
Submission deadline for abstracts: 30th September 2019 (300 words max/send to Anna Kühleis: anna.kuehleis@unibas.ch)
For further information, see
Call for Submissions: Religious Conversion in Africa
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This is a call for essays for a special issue of the peer-reviewed international journal Religions on the topic of religious conversion in Africa. Over the past decade, scholarly attention has focused on the “explosive” expansion of Pentecostalism across the African continent and its narrative of discontinuity with the pre-Pentecostal lives of Pentecostal adherents. This sophisticated research has demonstrated how the emic prioritization of rupture within the Pentecostal discourse of conversion was predicated on a desire to overcome the dysfunction and insecurity of life in neoliberal Africa.
The predominance of Pentecostal Christian practices and discourses within this literature has shaped recent investigations into conversion in three ways:
First, it has marginalized concurrent processes of religious change in Africa that do not necessarily conform to a discourse of rupture. These include, for example, the expansion of East Asian religions (e.g., Hinduism), the growth of new expressions of Christianity (e.g., Russian Orthodox Old Believers and Jehovah’s Witnesses), or the movement from one Christian denomination or tradition to another.
Second, the prioritization of rupture has meant that discussions about the role of cultural endurance and continuity in religious change have fallen largely out of fashion. There are material and psychological realities, however, such as abiding social relations with half-siblings from a polygamous marriage or the language(s) one speaks, that cannot be wished into oblivion following conversion.
Third, even as recent literature on conversion in Africa has reinvigorated scholarly inquiries into the phenomenon of conversion and religious change, it often reproduces older theories’ assumptions about the direction of religious conversion, from “traditional religions” to “world religions”. As a result, developments such as the reemergence of African indigenous religions through the advent of spiritual tourism and their spread throughout diasporic communities (e.g., Vodún in Benin, and Orisa in the Americas) are undertheorized with respect to conversion.
In light of these observations, we invite essays from any historical era, methodological approach, and theoretical framework that seek to make original contributions with respect to conversion and religious change in Africa. We especially welcome essays that interrogate issues of method with respect to source material, offer critical assessments of theories of conversion with respect to religious change in Africa, and are based in contexts beyond Christianity and/or Pentecostalism.
Authors who are interested in submitting an essay to this special issue should send a 250-word abstract of his/her/their paper to the guest editors at Jason.Bruner.1@asu.edu and dhurlbut@bu.edu by 1 September 2019. Notification of accepted proposals will occur by 1 October 2019. Final manuscripts will be due on 1 April 2020. All essays will be peer reviewed.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email the guest editors.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jason Bruner
Mr. David Dmitri Hurlbut
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charges(APCs) of 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs) per published paper are partially funded by institutions through Knowledge Unlatched for a limited number of papers per year. Please contact the editorial office before submission to check whether KU waivers, or discounts are still available. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- Religious Conversion
- Religion
- Ethnography
- Anthropology of Religion
- History of Religion
- New Religious Movements
- African Traditional Religions
- African Christianity
- Islam
- Africa
Chinese Theologies Conference
Call for Papers
A series of three conferences will be held 2020-2022 at Yale Divinity School (New Haven, Connecticut) on Chinese Theologies: mainstream, non-mainstream and academic. The first conference will be held June 1-2 2020, and scholars are invited to submit abstracts for papers discussing any aspect of theological thought/ individual theologians from a range of mainstream churches (pre-1949) or TSPM/ Chinese Catholic Churches (post-1949). Economy travel and accommodation will be paid for participants. Please send paper topics and 200 word abstract (in Chinese or English) to chloe.starr@yale.edu. All conference participants are expected to offer original papers for inclusion in an edited volume.
中国神学研讨会论文征集通告
自基督宗教进入中国，产生了许多值得关注和研究的神学思想与神学家。为反思和总结中国近现代及当代的神学，耶鲁大学神学院计划于2020 - 2022年举行三次以 “中国神学：主流、非主流和学术”为主题的系列学术会议。第一届会议主题为“中国主流神学”，举办时间2020年6月1-2日。 诚邀各位专家学者就如下主题提交论文：某神学思潮或神学家，范围包括1949年以前的主流教会或49年后的三自教会和天主教会。如果您的论文被接受，主办方将承担您的往返旅费（经济舱）及住宿费。与会者的论文最后将结集出版。请有意参加的学者将论文题目和200字摘要(中文或英文)在2019年09月1日之前发送至chloe.starr@yale.edu。
Yale-Edinburgh 2019
This year, the Yale Edinburgh Group lamented the loss of one of its co-founders, Lamin Sanneh. Several sessions were built into the program to commemorate his insights and contributions to the field, and there was a special memorial held as well. In his absence, Dana Robert opened the meeting with a lecture on where the Yale-Edinburgh group fits in history, and she also concluded the meeting with reflections on themes she heard over the three days. During breaks, she spent time with such friends as Linda Ochola and Wanjiru Gitau.
Third International Congress on the History of the Order of the Preachers in the Americas
July 18-19, 2019
Providence College, Providence, Rhode Island
USA
The third international congress will focus on Dominicans in different scenarios and historical periods in the Americas: the Order’s establishment, diffusion, and organization; its actors, institutions, and ministries; its tradition as manifested in foundations, missions, parishes, colleges, and universities; its theological and philosophical thinking; its economic activities and political participation, and its artistic expressions and cultural heritage.
The complete program is available here. (A)Conf. Program 6.25.19, final
Second International Conference on Bartolomé de Las Casas
July 15-16, 2016
Providence College, Providence, Rhode Island
USA
The second international conference on Bartolomé de Las Casas will focus on how his life, labor, and legacy offers a prism for the interpretation of the interaction, expansion, culture, and ancestry of Indigenous people, Africans, Europeans and Asians in the American Hemisphere. The organizers programmed this Lascasian conference to coincide with the III International Conference on the History of the Order of Preachers in America, to be held July 17-19th (Wednesday-Friday) at Providence College (Dominican conference link). Participants can benefit from and contribute to the rich combination of unique research interests afforded by these two international gatherings.
The complete program is available here.(A)Conf. Program 6.25.19, final
Preserving History
“The global church works best when all her parts are engaged in sharing their stories,” said Patrick Obonde, director of missions at the Anabaptist Leadership Education Centre in Kenya.
On 17–19 June 2019, historians, pastors and archivists did just that at “Power and Preservation: Enabling Access to the Sources Behind Our Stories,” at Goshen College, Indiana, USA. An initiative of the Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism (ISGA), the conference had 16 presentations on the state of the historical sources and storytelling in African, Asian, North American, and Latin American Anabaptist churches and organizations.
Presenters addressed resources, access and commitment to preserving history in their contexts.
Although each raised unique concerns, common themes emerged.
- Oral history is a priority. Digitizing sources has great potential for preservation and increased accessibility, but it also requires significant financial resources.
- The love of power or fear of its loss can make access to historical documents difficult.
- A tradition of localism is a barrier to preservation. “Everyone feels comfortable with how things are,” said Ursula Giesbrecht, archivist of the Menno Colony in Loma Plata, Paraguay. “It is always difficult to move away from your customs.”
At the end of the symposium, the group drafted a statement that synthesized the themes addressed at the gathering.
“As followers of Jesus Christ our history connects us, reminds us of the Spirit’s activity among us, and calls us forward into the future,” it declares. “Archives play a crucial role in helping us to understand the inseparability of the stories of church and mission.”
This statement declares the importance of historical identity, the urgency of recording stories, and the necessity of access to sources in a healthy church community. The statement also recognizes barriers churches face in preserving and providing access to historical sources, and concludes with a list of commitments signed by 29 participants from 12 countries.
According to Roth, the idea for the symposium was born in conversations with Anicka Fast, a doctoral student whose research on Mennonite mission in DR Congo was inhibited by limited or restricted access to archives, and by the precarious condition of documents. Together with Bruce Yoder, who recently completed a PhD on the history of Mennonite missions in Nigeria, the organizers sought to broaden the discussion regarding preservation and access, and address how historical narratives shape the identity of the global church.
Pamela Sari, whose PhD research examined Jemaat Kristen Indonesia (MWC member church in Indonesia), is hopeful about the future of Mennonite archives. “The church is truly gifted with leaders, missionaries, members, scholars, archivists who care deeply about its history. I pray that God will continue to increase our capacity to stay planted in the love and truth of Christ and his Word.”
—An MWC release by Laura Miller / Goshen College
World vs. Global; Christianity vs. Christianities
In a recent interview with Aaron Hollander of the Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute, Dana Robert unpacked what is behind some of the most loaded but under discussed terms in the study of World Christianity. The result is an excellent primer in the field. It is available in the June 2019 edition of Ecumenical Trends, or available for download below.
Mission and Unity
At the Florida Annual Conference in June 2019, Dana Robert spoke to the delegates and mission and unity built on the foundation of friendship. “These days, the ‘together’ part of mission might be the toughest part of the mission we face,” she noted. Yet, maybe for that reason, friendship is a powerful witness. It creates a community, and a community leads to sharing the good news of Jesus, serving God and your neighbor, setting the oppressed free, and making people whole.