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Power, Violence, and World Christianity

Submitted to Program Units
1: World Christianity Unit

Janice McLean-Farrell, New Brunswick Theological Seminary, Presiding

Abstract for Online Program Book (maximum 150 words)

This panel explores the topics of power and violence in relation to Christianity in the Global South. The first paper reimagines Hong Kong Christian identity and vocation in diaspora in light of the city’s social and political transformation. The second draws on Indian judicial reports to emphasize the ways in which religious persecution has become a reality for religious minorities in India today. The third offers a nuanced picture of Christian-Muslim relations in Indonesia, demonstrating how Indonesian Christians cultivate different modes of subsisting that allow them to negotiate their identity and societal roles. The fourth explores how the Taiping Rebellion developed a demonology to dehumanize its targets. The fifth makes the methodological case that World Christianity as a field ought to restore its subversive power by collaborating with the field of Ethnic Studies. The sixth upholds the contributions of Afua Kuma in translating Christianity through tradition, art, and religious imagination.

Papers

  • Easten Law, Princeton Theological Seminary

    靈根自植 , 守護真相 (Cultivating Spiritual Roots & Guarding the Truth): Theological Action Research with the Hong Kong Christian Diaspora

    Abstract

    Over the course of the last decade, Hong Kong has experienced a social and political transformation.  The city’s frayed ends have been pulled in every direction by a cacophony of competing global interests, unraveled by the strong arm of China’s central government, and set aflame by one of the world’s most restrictive COVID policies.  For many who have called Hong Kong home, these changes constitute a watershed crisis that have necessitated critical reflection and hard choices on the nature of the Hong Kong church in diaspora amidst a home that is disappearing. This study reports on a multi-phase theoogical action research project that is reimagining Hong Kong Christian identity and vocation in diaspora, a collaborative process of discerning lived theology, ecclesiology, and missiology among overseas Hong Kong scholars who are studying for advanced degrees in history, Christian ethics, systematic theology, and homiletics.  

  • Abhishek Prabhakar John, Boston University

    Judicial Reports and Narratives of Religious Conversion in India: An Analysis of the Judicial Reports of the Somasekhara and Saldanha Commissions on the 2008 Anti-Christian Violence in Mangalore, India

    Abstract

    Religious persecution has become a reality for religious minorities in India today, particularly Christians. Two major incidents of large-scale persecution acted as springboards to making this reality pervasive – persecution of Christians in Odisha (August 2008) and Mangalore (September 2008). This paper will focus on the latter and analyze two reports - Judicial Reports of the Somasekhara and Saldanha Commissions on the religious violence in Mangalore - as lenses to understand narratives of religious persecution and violence against religious minorities in Mangalore and in the broader theme of religious violence and World Christianity. This paper will analyze how Justice Somasekhara’s report strives to “other” Christianity as a "foreign-funded" and "foreign" religion. Secondly, it will survey the change in the geographical landscape of Hindutva's presence. Thirdly, it will analyze the two reports and their portrayal of vandalism of religious symbols. Fourthly, it will sieve through the terminologies employed by the two reports.

  • Hans Harmakaputra, Augustana University

    The Phenomenon of Church Closing in Indonesia: Violence, Resistance, and Resilience in the “GKI Yasmin” Case

    Abstract

    The fall of President Suharto from his long authoritarian regime in 1998 marks the beginning of the Reformation period that ushers in the “conservative turn” among Indonesian Muslims in politics, social, economic, and cultural realms. One of the most visible manifestations of it is the significant increase in church closing cases. Church closings refer to various phenomena, including various activities, from individual objections and demonstrations to physical attacks. This paper focuses on one case that has gained national and international attention in Bogor, West Java: The “Gereja Kristen Indonesia (Indonesian Christian Church) Yasmin” case. In April 2023, after more than a decade of struggle, the church was opened at a different location. The paper aims to analyze strategies employed by the congregation, ranging from public rituals as a form of resistance to cooperation with Muslim stakeholders and local government apparatus. The goal is to obtain a more nuanced picture of Christian-Muslim relations after the conservative turn in contemporary Indonesia. Far from passive and submissive, Indonesian Christians cultivate different modes of subsisting that allow them to negotiate their identity and roles in the larger society.

  • Zihao He, The University of Edinburgh

    Eliminating Demons in China: Exploring the Demonology of the Taiping Rebellion and its Justification of Violence

    Abstract

    This paper explores how the Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864), a movement inspired by Protestantism, developed a demonology to dehumanize its targets of violence. Analyzing the Taiping documents, it examines three demon categories in Taiping theology: the Devil and his followers, humans deemed demons for violating Taiping rules, and the Manchu Qing government. Special attention is given to two key issues: perfect humanity and ethnicity within the Taiping theology. Regarding perfect humanity, the Taiping ideology made a dichotomous distinction between humans and demons, considering humans as children of God and inherently perfect. However, transgression against divine commands led to individuals being categorized as demons and subject to punishment. Ethnicity played a significant role in the demonization process, with the Taipings drawing a strict line between Han Chinese and the Manchus. Han Chinese deemed as demons were seen as potentially redeemable, while the Manchus were demonized from their very origins.

  • Soojin Chung, Princeton Theological Seminary

    World Christianity and Ethnic Studies: Subversive Partners in Academia

    Abstract

    This article traces the history of the field of World Christianity, from the 1920s to the present. After examining two pivotal movements that shaped this discipline, the article argues that the initial Third World force subsequently lost its prominence. To restore its subversive power, it proposes possibilities for collaboration between World Christianity and Ethnic Studies, imagining new ways Ethnic Studies can invigorate the study of World Christianity. 

  • Kenneth Ofula, University of Oxford

    Indigenous Religions Dressed in Designer Clothes: Afua Kuma Redefining Theology in World Christianity

    Abstract

    Afua Kuma's prayers and analysis presents a "woman of deep faith" in God with unmatched indigenous conception of the Bible, and creative translation of the interdisciplinary nature of World Christianity. Surprisingly, she is hardly classified as a theologian, rather, as an 'illiterate Ghanaian woman' and her works regarded as, ‘not academic, but deeply theological.’ Thus, the question: what is theology? who is a theologian? What makes her prayers non-academic in comparison to other theological primary sources? What is the role of indigenous epistemologies in understanding World Christianity? This paper explores the development of indigenous epistemologies in world Christianity as depicted in contemporary Christian songs, spoken words and prayers in African Christianity. It argues that Afua Kuma, as an embodiment of conceptual decolonization of African theological epistemology, has successfully used her indigenous intelligence to translate Christianity through tradition, art and religious imagination.

Audiovisual Requirements

Resources

LCD Projector and Screen
Play Audio from Laptop Computer
Podium microphone

Sabbath Observance

Sunday (all day)
Sunday morning
Accessibility Requirements

Resources

Wheelchair accessible

Comments

No, thanks. | I found multiple versions of my name for "authors" but I'm not sure which one belongs to my current institution.

Full Papers Available

No
Program Unit Options

Session Length

2 Hours

Schedule Preference

Saturday, 12:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Schedule Info

Sunday, 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Tags

Hong Kong theology
theological action research
world Christianity
religious persecution
# religious violence
# Violence
#Indonesia
Southeast Asian Christianity
Christian-Muslim relations
#interreligious #interfaith
#Chinese christianity
#Confucianism #World Religions
#ChristianMission
demonology
the Taiping Rebellion

Session Identifier

A24-143