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.
Dance as Metaphor of Cross and Mission in Contexts of Trauma
The trauma of violence, discrimination, and war continue to mark the lives of countless Christians throughout the globe. Such trauma is particularly acute in contexts where the public life of Christians is threatened and marginalized by the increasing influence of religious radicalism in the public sphere, notably in the Indonesian context of BuSTH alumna Rev. Dr. Septemmy Lakawa, professor of Jakarta Theological Seminary. Dr. Lakawa was a keynote speaker at the 2017 Asia Mission Conference in Yangon, Myanmar. In her speech on October 16th, she emphasized the role of dance in healing from the trauma experienced by Christians who are witnesses to acts of violence.
Latino Immigrant Ethnic Identity and Religious Affiliation in the US
As the percentage of the Latino population in the United States has grown dramatically over the previous decades, this growth has coincided with a diversification of religious adherence among Latinos. This has been most visible in growing pentecostal and evangelical expressions of Christianity. CGCM faculty associate Jonathan Calvillo recently presented his research on the impact of this diversification on Latino ethnic identity and ethnic community at the "International Colloquium on Latinos in the United States” held in Havana, Cuba, October 16th-18th.
Call for Papers: Christianity and the Public Sphere in Africa and Asia
Conference theme: Christianity and the Public Sphere in Africa and Asia
Conference date: From Sunday evening on 1 July to Tuesday noon on 3 July 2018
Conference venue: Hope Park Campus, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool, L16 9JD, England
The conference will generate informed discussions of issues pertaining to African and Asian Christians and their public roles: How did or does Christianity function as salt and light in African or Asian societies? What does it mean to be responsible Christians in Africa or Asia? How did or can Christians in Africa and Asia claim the Lordship of Jesus Christ in their public spaces? How does the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ judge old loyalties and rearrange them in Africa and Asia? What are the characteristics of African or Asian Christians in their respective societies? What are the examples of African or African theologies that engage with the public sphere of their peoples? How do African or Asian Christians in diaspora situations either on their own continents or in, for example, European and American settings address the issues that matter to them and their children?
The organizers of this conference welcome 300-word proposals from academics and activists on any aspect of Christianity and its engagement with the public sphere in Africa and Asia. They request them to email their proposals along with their brief CV to Rev Dr Harvey Kwiyani (kwiyanh@hope.ac.uk) by 31 January 2018. By mid-February 2018, they will then notify those presenters whose proposals the Conference Committee has accepted and request them to send their papers by the end of May 2018 for a possible sharing with other participants and also an online publication.
Online registration for this conference will open in the first week of March 2018. All inclusive early bird conference reservation will be available for £230.00 from March to April 2018. This reservation includes accommodation in single en-suite room on the Hope Park campus from the afternoon of Sunday, 1 July 2018 till noon on Tuesday, 3 July 2018, all meals and the conference fee. All-inclusive registration in May and June 2018 will be available for £250.00. Accommodation in double rooms in available in limited numbers; it will be allotted on a first-come and first-served basis. For further details, please contact Dr. Kwiyani.
Race, Religion, and Adoption in the United States
This year, Soojin Chung will be working as Visiting Scholar at the University of California-Berkeley Department of Ethnic Studies. There, she will be collaborating with UC Berkeley professor Carolyn Chen, investigating how the dynamic of race plays a role in the lives of Asian American adoptees. Specifically, she will examine the relationship between race and religion, focusing on the role of race in adoptees’ religious experience in American Christian homes.
The Maritime World of Early Jesuit Missionaries
The context which shaped the encounter between early modern Jesuit missionaries and China not only included Europe and East Asia, but also the long and often arduous maritime journey between these distant lands. CGCM faculty associate Eugenio Menegon is uncovering the importance of this journey on the cross-cultural encounter between Jesuits and China in a presentation at the International Symposium hosted by the Centro Científico e Cultural de Macau (Macau Scientific and Cultural Centre) in Lisbon, Portugal. The symposium, held on October 9-11, 2017, centers on the importance of the maritime context to the histories of China and Macau.
2018 Global Christian Forum Gathering in Bogotá, Colombia
The Global Christian Forum (GCF) will hold its third global gathering April 24-27, 2018 in Bogotá, Colombia. "The GCF is a ‘forum,' a place for leaders from across the spectrum of Christianity globally to meet for inspiration and insight on matters of common interest as they face the future together." This by-invitation gathering will be composed of Christian leaders representing Catholic, Conciliar Protestant, Evangelical, Orthodox, independent and Pentecostal traditions. The 2018 gathering's theme will be "Let Mutual Love Continue," inspired by the biblical teaching of "Jubilee." The most recent GCF newsletter with more detailed information on the gathering can be found here.
Christian-Muslim Relations and State Formation in West Africa
Many emerging countries in postcolonial West Africa have found themselves at the center of Christian-Muslim interactions in the contemporary world. Nimi Wariboko's new piece, "Christian-Muslim Relations and the Ethos of State Formation in West Africa” in Evelyn A. Reisacher (ed.), Dynamics of the Muslim Worlds: Regional, Theological, and Theological Perspectives (Downers Groove, IL: IVP Academic 2017), explores the ways in which such state formation is both shaped by and shapes (sometimes coopting for the state's own ends) dynamics between these two religious communities.
The Latinx Body and Pedagogy
What does it mean to be Latino/a and teach in the U.S. in higher education today? The Perkins School of Theology Center for the Study of Latino/a Christianity and Religions is offering a one-day seminar to discuss issues related to this important question. The seminar is for Pre-Tenure Faculty and PhD Candidates led by Dr. Daisy Machado on March 9, 2018. The Center will fully fund ten applicants through an application process for which the deadline is October 8, 2017. Applicants can apply online through the following link: http://mp.gg/e-re4.
Killing our Children’s Children
Surveying ecological disasters around the world, Visiting Researcher Kapya Kaoma delivered sharp warnings that an earth-theology must be developed, or we will be "killing our children's children." Dr. Kaoma delivered his message during the Gunther Wittenberg Lecture at the University of KwaZulu-Natal Ujamaa Centre in South Africa. His entire lecture has been made through Critical Investigations into Humanitarianism in Africa.
Large Book Donation to African Theological Schools
The Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts is donating over 10,000 books to numerous theological schools in Africa. The Rev. Dr. Kapya Kaoma, BuSTH alumnus and CGCM visiting researcher, facilitated the donation between the divinity school's closing library and African institutions including St. John's Anglican University College in Zambia and Zomba Theological College in Malawi. A Boston Globe article describing the donation, including donations to other institutions of higher learning throughout the world can be found here.