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.
Korea Research Institute for Mission
Daewon Moon, Doctoral Fellow at the CGCM, was recently appointed as a visiting researcher at the Korea Research Institute for Mission (KRIM). He is involved in a project to develop training materials for Korean missionary candidates under the leadership of the renowned Korean missiologist Dr. Steve Moon, who is contributing editor of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research. Daewon is also supporting KRIM’s annual missiological forum and seminar. Following a year and a half of mission work at International Leadership University in Burundi, he and his family have temporarily relocated to Korea due to political instability in Burundi.
A Global Church Divided?
The Atlantic ran an article on the challenge of being a global church. In an interview with CGCM Director, Dana Robert, the magazine explored the complexity of holding together a diverse body with an essentially democratic polity. Currently, the United Methodist Church is struggling with the question of whether gay and lesbian people can be ordained in the church, and whether or not pastors can marry same-sex couples. The questions threaten to divide the church. Yet, Robert saw the current debate as hopeful: “You don’t see Catholic bishops debating these issues with the laity. Their position is set. You don’t see fundamentalists debating this issue with the laity. Their position is set." But for Methodists, if “you believe in the unity of the church … struggle is part of the process.”
Building Bridges
At the United Methodist General Conference, Glen Messer--the first faculty associate of the CGCM, and now an executive in the Office of Christian Unity and Interreligious Relationships--announced that the UMC was forming two new ecumenical relationships. One was with the Moravian Church and the other with the Uniting Church in Sweden.
CGCM Summer Newsletter: martyred Father Machozi and religious violence
The CGCM summer 2016 newsletter is now available in PDF form, and in print at the Boston University School of Theology. The summer issue reflects on the murder and martyr of Father Vincent Machozi, a voice for the persecuted and a witness to atrocities being committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The issue also reflects on the wider context of religious violence around the world. You can download the PDF here: Summer 2016 newsletter no. 22.
Perfecting Unity
In his new book, Perfecting Unity, Glen Alton Messer II--the first faculty associate of the Center for Global Christianity & Mission--aids Christ's disciples in discernment in the midst of this present moment of time; in our world and context. The book is also written for those who wish to understand Christians and the things with which they wrestle as they do their best to live faithfully in the world. It is not a book that gives answers. Indeed, it is a book that challenges answers formulated previously by other faithful Christians in different moments and different contexts. It is not a repudiation of what came before; but a reminder that the practice of courage in people of faith necessitates the testing of previous worldviews and the formulation of new best attempts to incarnate the love of God in us and around us.
The book is being published one chapter at a time, with a new chapter appearing every Wednesday until October. The material is digitally accessible now, and later will be available for purchase through Amazon.
Call for Papers: Protest, Public Religion, & Social Change
Boston University Graduate Conference on Religious Studies 2016
Buddhist Monks, Christian Friars, and the Making of Buddhism
In her recent article, “Buddhist Monks and Christian Friars: Religious and Cultural Exchange in the Making of Buddhism,” Eva Pascal (PhD Candidate) demonstrated that the idea of Buddhism as a common religion across much of Asia, did not emerge in the 19th century as has been widely assumed. Instead, it was Spanish Franciscan Friars in the 16th century who, in their interactions with Buddhist monks in Thailand, China, and Japan recognized a common core. The Franciscans not only perceived a single founder behind the various names used for the Buddha in Asia, they also recognized the features of "religion." In other words, Franciscans concluded that Buddhist monks were not merely superstitious--the label associated with heathen ideas. Instead, they began to use the term "religion" for Buddhist beliefs and practices, because the Franciscans recognized monks as their counterparts. Buddhist monks lived in monastic communities, adhered to a life of voluntary poverty, took vows of chastity, preached obedience to commandments, and the like. The parallels led the Franciscan missionaries to introduce Buddhism to the West as a religion, a total system comparable to Christianity.
African Pentecostalism
Allan Anderson, one of the foremost scholars on Pentecostalism, delivered a lecture at the Boston University School of Theology on April 14th: "Pentecostalism and the African Spirit World: Continuity or Discontinuity?" In the lecture, Professor Anderson, explored the complex relationship between African Traditional Religions and Pentecostalism, highlighting how--often at the same time--Pentecostalism is both a rupture with the past and in continuity with it. The lecture drew not only students from Boston University, but also from the Pentecostal Leadership and Theological Institute of The Church of Pentecost, U.S.A. (pictured below).
BU memorial service and streaming for Father Machozi
Boston University will hold a memorial service for Father Vincent Machozi on Tuesday, April 26, at 2pm in Marsh Chapel. The service will be followed by a reception in the School of Theology Community Center at 3pm. The community invites all to attend this service for Father Machozi, a martyred graduate student of the School of Theology. The service and reception will include visitors and participants from the Congolese community, the Assumptionists, the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Everett, and the university community. Live streaming will be available at http://livestream.com/accounts/4958196 for people to join in from other locations.
Reassessing Chinese Christianity through John Sung
At the 75th annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, CGCM Associate Director, Daryl Ireland participated in a panel on "Chinese Christianity Revisited: The John Sung Papers and Chinese Evangelistic Materials." The panel was organized by the Council on East Asian Libraries, and highlighted Yale Divinity School's recent acquisition of the journals of John Sung, the preeminent Chinese evangelist of the 20th century. Three librarians spoke about what it means to have access to rare primary materials, particularly from a figure like John Sung. These are the necessary building blocks for scholars to piece together the dramatic story of Chinese Christianity over the last 100 years. Dr. Ireland was then featured as someone who has used the new materials, and he demonstrated how a close reading of one of Sung's revivals can go a long way in reconstructing the class composition of the people who eagerly gathered to hear Sung preach.