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.
CGCM Fall 2013 Newsletter is here!
The Fall 2013 Newsletter is out, you can get your copy at the Center or see the PDF online here.
Titus Presler reports from Pakistan
Rev. Dr. Titus Presler, Principal of Edwardes College in Peshawar, Pakistan, sent the following report yesterday after the horrendous slaughter of people attending All Saints' Church there. We at CGCM grieve for those killed and with those injured.
After church bombing Edwardes closes for 3 days and empathy abounds
In both grief and protest, the churches of Pakistan have declared three days of mourning and solidarity for the victims of today’s bomb blast at All Saints’ Church, Kohati Gate, Peshawar, in which it is reported that at least 150 people were killed and at least 200 were injured, many of them critically.
To its great credit, the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the province of which Peshawar is the capital, promptly endorsed that move and declared three days of mourning in solidarity with the Christian community and stated that what it called “missionary institutions” would be closed for the three days. To its equal credit, the Federal Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan soon followed suit.
The bombing’s impact on Edwardes College itself is considerable. We’re not sure how many of our students were killed at the church, but there are at least several. A number of alums were killed. Victims also included students and teachers at Edwardes College School, a feeder institution located on our campus. More information will be forthcoming over the next day or so.
Following is the letter that I sent out to all faculty and staff:
Dear Edwardes Community,
We are all shocked and grieving in the aftermath of the bombing at All Saints? Church, Kohati Gate, on this Sunday, Sept 22. The scale of the atrocity is terrible. News is still coming in, but it is said that about 150 people or more were killed and 200 or more were injured. The news has gone around the world.
Information is emerging, but a number of our current students were killed as were a number of Edwardes College alumni. The same is true of Edwardes College School and, of course, other church institutions throughout the city.
The churches of Pakistan have declared that all church institutions throughout the nation will be closed for three days of mourning for the dead and in solidarity with the bereaved and with the Christian community. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government has endorsed this closure.
Members of the Management Team have discussed the matter and are agreed on the College’s participation in this closure. Therefore as an institution of the Church of Pakistan, Edwardes College will be closed Monday-Wednesday, Sept 23-25. The present plan is to reopen on Thursday, Sept 26.
Let us join in reaching out to those who are mourning their lost loved ones.
May we all know the blessing of God in this troubled time.
Canon Titus
Followers of events in Pakistan will feel today’s attack on one religious minority resonating with other attacks on other minorities in Pakistan, most notably the attacks in January and February on Shia Muslims in Quetta, in Balochistan, in which about 200 people were killed. Unfortunately attacks on religious minorities are on the rise.
Being stateside at the moment, I first heard of today’s event in a text from a Muslim faculty member this morning: “Very sad news a blast in Kohati Gate church Peshawar. 30 casualties. May God put their souls in peace.” Missing the church reference, I responded: “Terrible. Tnks for letting me know. God bless the victims.”
My interlocutor responded: “Amen. I’m too very sad for my Christian brothers and sisters. It was a cruel incident. May God help us. Amen.” To which I replied: “Do you mean that Christians were the targets?” “I’m not sure,” he answered at that early hour. Now we know they most definitely were.
I was touched by his concern for the Christian community.
As I was by the following email from another faculty member:
Dear All:
It’s really matter of shame for all of us, what happened today at Church at Kohati Gate Peshawar.
Islam is peaceful religion, and in Islam there is no place for such people who create violence with anyone, regardless of their religion, at any cost. Personally all my sympathies are with those who suffered today. May Allah bless their souls and may they rest in heaven. At this crucial time we all are with the Christian community side by side, so please do not think you are alone.
Oh Allah forgive us. As we are not following the right path, forgive us.
Ameen.
Such ecumenical spirit is crucial in any place and time, but especially so in Peshawar and in Pakistan today. So I thank God for such compassion and generosity of spirit between people of different religions.
Roldan-Figueroa Presents at University of New Mexico
Prof. Rady Roldan-Figueroa gave a presentation at the Center for Southwest Research and the Latin American and Iberian Institute of the University of New Mexico when he was there in June as Greenleaf Scholar. It dealt with the connections between the Provincia of San Diego of the Discalced Franciscans in Mexico, the Provincia de San Gregorio of the same order in Manila, and the representation of Japanese Christianity in 17th, 18th and 19th century New Spain. You can download the full presentation here.
Missional Education
Doctoral student Christopher James has recently published an article entitled: "Education that is Missional: Towards a Pedagogy for the Missional Church," in Social Engagement: The Challenge of the “Social” in Missiological Education (Wilmore, KY: First Fruit Press, 2013, p.146-169). You can also access the article free online. Chris' article has also been cited by by the African scholar who visited the CGCM in June, Dr. Fohle Lygunda, Head of the Department of Missiology International Leadership University in Burundi. The abstract of the article is below:
This paper explores the implications of missional theology for Christian religious education in congregations. In particular, it draws on recent notable missional titles to do three things: 1) to clarify the meaning and aims of missional education as Christian education that specifically privileges the goal of helping Christians discover and live into their identity as God’s cooperative partners in the missio dei, 2) to identify key characteristics of missional education, namely, attention to identity and acuity, life as the classroom, and Scripture as mission narrative, and 3) offer a modest proposal for missional education in the congregational setting through small communities of shared practice.
Christopher B. James is a PhD Candidate in Practical Theology at Boston University School of Theology with training from Fuller Theological Seminary, Wheaton College, and the Renovaré Institute. He can be found at www.jesusdust.com,www.newseattlechurches.com, and @chrisbjames.
The Making of Korean Christianity
Dr. Sung-Deuk Oak, a School of Theology graduate in 2002, has recently published a new book on Korean Christianity, entitled: The Making of Korean Christianity: Protestant Encounters with Korean Religions, 1876-1915 (Baylor University Press, 2013). The book is the first volume of the Studies of World Christianity of Nagel Institute Calvin College and Baylor University Press.
More information on this exciting new publication can be found below:
Description:
A major catalyst for the growth of Korean Christianity occurred at the turn of the twentieth century when Western missionaries encountered the religious landscape of Korea. These first-generation missionaries have been framed as destroyers of Korean religion and culture. Yet, as Sung-Deuk Oak shows in The Making of Korean Christianity, existing Korean religious tradition also impacted the growth and character of evangelical Christianity. The melding of indigenous Korean religions and Christianity led to a highly localized Korean Christianity that flourished in the early modern era. The Making of Korean Christianity sorts fact from myth in this exhaustive examination of the local and global forces that shaped Christianity on the Korean Peninsula.
Table of Contents
Illustrations, Tables, Diagrams, and Maps
Preface and Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction
1 God: Search for the Korean Name for God, Hanănim
2 Saviors: Images of the Cross and Messianism
3 Spirits: Theories of Shamanism and Practice of Exorcism
4 Ancestors: Confucian and Christian Memorial Services
5 Messages: Chinese Literature and Korean Translations
6 Rituals: Revivals and Prayers
Conclusion
Appendix
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
Reviews:
"This groundbreaking study is the best book written on the development of Korean Christianity. Oak traces the early encounter between Protestant missionaries and Korean religions and moves the scholarship in new, deeper directions. The Making of Korean Christianity is required reading."
--Dana L. Robert, Truman Collins Professor of World Christianity and History of Mission, Boston University.
“The Making of Korean Christianity is the most comprehensive and significant contribution to the study of Protestant Christianity in Korea that has appeared in a generation. Oak challenges the received academic discourse on the first generation of Christians and shows how early Korean Protestants dealt with sophisticated issues in theology and religious practice to arrive at their own solutions in the process of cultural encounter. This book will be the principal source in English on this period of Korean Church history for many years."
--James H. Grayson, Emeritus Professor of Modern Korean Studies, The University of Sheffield.
"The Making of Korean Christianity is a remarkable book. Oak moves beyond the conventional stereotypical view of the early Christian missionaries in Korea and expounds a deeper understanding of dealing with the missionaries' encounter with indigenous Korean religions. I highly recommended this book not only for those who are interested in the history of Christianity in Korea but also for the scholars and students of Korean spirituality and religious traditions and inter-religious dialogue in Korea."
--Young-chan Ro, Professor and Chair, Department of Religious Studies and Director, Korean Studies Center, George Mason University.
Joanna Baradziej joins the Center as visiting researchers
Joanna Baradziej will be joining The Center for Global Christianity as a visiting researcher from the University of Bergen, Norway, for two months this summer. Joanna is currently doing research for her thesis on gender identity and female missionaries in Scotland and China. You can read more about Joanna and the Center's other visiting researcher here. Welcome, Joanna!
Gina Zurlo Bellofatto gives video presentation in Bangalore
Student Gina Zurlo Bellofatto gave a presentation at the Global Leadership Forum in Bangalore, India this June, called "The State of the World." The video of the presentation is available for all online at the Lausanne Movement website. Congratulations to Gina!
Highlights of the ASM meeting, Dr. Robert delivers key address
The American Society of Missiology (ASM) used its 40th annual meeting to consider the future of the discipline. Two hundred people attended, a forty percent increase over any previous ASM gathering. The sessions, June 21-23, were structured around four plenary presentations which acted as springboards for smaller organized conversations about the future of the society and the discipline of missiology. Periodic breakout paper presentations demonstrated the current vitality and fecundity of mission studies.
Dana Robert led the first plenary session through “Forty Years of the American Society of Missiology: Retrospect and Prospect.” Through a thick description of the early years of the society, she demonstrated that the ASM overcame suspicion about the academic legitimacy of missiology through the tools of collaboration and convergence, church growth, and contextualization. Between 1989 and 1991, she observed, mission studies demonstrated how much it had grown. A series of events and publications revealed how missiology was no longer an embattled or tangential area of study, but a source of generative ideas that was influencing theology, ecclesiology and church history. Finally, around the year 2000, she suggested that the awareness of Christianity as a worldwide religion moved beyond mission studies. The global reality of Christianity energized missiological thinking, even as it challenged some of the inaugural aspects of the ASM itself. In a global age, for instance, she asked what is uniquely American about the American Society of Missiology. Subsequent discussions returned to her description of the past and questions about the future, especially as people tried to think through what collaboration and convergence might mean for the ASM now.
The other plenary sessions explored missiology from different angles. Dwight Zscheile (Luther Seminary) offered a “Next Generation Perspective.” His presentation prompted participants to explore how missiology could foster an atmosphere for churches to experiment and even fail. Later, Jehu Hanciles (Emory University) spoke to the ASM from a “Global South Perspective,” which sparked numerous conversations on how the society could become more inclusive. In his Presidential address, Craig Van Gelder (Luther Seminary) advocated for local congregations to be seen as the primary missionaries. The discipline of missiology, he suggested, needs to be calibrated according to its congregational subject.
The meetings ended with summations from the small group conversations. The future of the discipline of missiology remains an open question, but the liveliness of the conversations and breadth of the papers presented over the weekend suggest missiology is rapidly expanding, and traveling in multiple directions.
--Reported by Daryl Ireland
Review of “Theology for the Global Church”
Student Travis Myers has reviewed a noteworthy book exploring theology and missiology, Local Theology for the Global Church: Principles for an Evangelical Approach to Contextualization. His review can be found in Missiology: An International Review 39, no. 3 (July 2011): 413-414.
Yale-Edinburgh Group meeting report by Daryl Ireland
The Yale-Edinburgh Group held its 23rd meeting in New Haven, Connecticut, June 27-29, 2013. The theme, “Health, Healing, and Medicine in the History of Christian Missions and World Christianity,” inspired diverse papers, ranging from an investigation of John Wesley’s medical advice to the use of herbal medicine in Ghanaian Christianity.
The number of participants was capped at 80, so having six people from Boston University demonstrated its prominence in the field of global Christianity. Dr. Sung-Deuk Oak (Th.D, 2002), Associate Professor at UCLA considered how Christian medical missions in Korea moved, “From the Plough of Evangelism to the Fruit of Christian Love,” during the 1920s. Also looking at Asia, Daryl Ireland investigated a mission hospital in China and asked if medicine was “Christian, Secular, or yet Something Else?” Daewon Moon pointed to the “Ruanda Mission and its Contribution to the East African Revival,” while Michele Sigg explained the prominent role women have played in “Carrying Living Water” during the fifohazana revival in Madagascar. In addition, Eva Pascal introduced a new movie on Seventh-Day Adventist medical work around the world. Gina Bellofatto, a student in the joint ThD program between Boston University and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary also attended the conference.