5. November 2025 | 18:30 Uhr   Villa Köstlin

"Theologian, Critic, Classicist: The Conservative Turn in Sino-Christian Theology"

In the 1980s, a cohort of unconventional intellectuals at Chinese universities began to integrate European theological concepts into Chinese academic discourse, literature, and some newly established journals and book series. This initiative took shape against the backdrop of the post-Maoist "cultural fever" that characterized the era. Famous among this generation of China’s “Cultural Christians” was the young academic Liu Xiaofeng (1956-), known in the 1990s for pioneering a new theological movement among scholars in the humanities. Liu, who later turned to cultural and political conservatism, would eventually distance himself from “Sino-Christian theology” to promote the works of such thinkers as Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss in Chinese translation. This lecture traces the development of Sino-Christian theology and its sister discourse, Sino-Christian studies; introduces the controversial figure of Liu Xiaofeng; and explores the recent bifurcation of academic theology in China into conservative theology coupled with liberal ideas and contemporary conservatism.

Bio

Naomi Thurston is a scholar of contemporary Chinese Christianity based at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Her research focuses on the contributions of Chinese intellectuals to issues in contextual and academic theology and Christian studies. She has translated the writings of contemporary Chinese scholars in the fields of art criticism and Christian thought and currently serves as director of the China Christianity Studies Group and as Associate Editor of Ching Feng: A Journal on Christianity and Chinese Religion and Culture.

12.-13.12.2025 | Villa Köstlin (Rümelinstr. 27), Seminarraum | Zoom (Veranstaltungssprache: Englisch)

Organisiert von New Horizons Fellow Prof. Naomi Thurston

About
Dieser Workshop zielt darauf ab, verschiedene aktuelle Ansätze der Erforschung des chinesischen Christentums zusammenzuführen und zu diskutieren, die von Wissenschaftler:innen aus verschiedenen Teilen der Welt und unterschiedlichen Disziplinen – sei es aus der Geschichtswissenschaft, Theologie, Literaturwissenschaft, Soziologie oder Religionswissenschaft – angewendet werden. Der Workshop wird gemeinsam vom CoF, der Fakultät für Evangelische Theologie der Universität Tübingen, der Divinity School des Chung Chi College der Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), dem Center for Christian Studies im Fachbereich Kultur- und Religionswissenschaften der CUHK und dem Institute of Sino-Christian Studies in Hongkong organisiert und von der China Christianity Studies Group (CCSG) gefördert.

Sie sind herzlich eingeladen, vor Ort oder online teilzunehmen: Wir bitten Sie, sich zur weiteren Planung unter infospam prevention@cof.uni-tuebingen.de anzumelden (den Zoom-Link erhalten Sie auf Anfrage ebenfalls über diese Adresse) - vielen Dank!

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