Moltmann in China

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.

“This study is a landmark evaluation of Moltmann’s engagement with China and Chinese engagement with Moltmann. From eco-theology to political theology to Marxist dialectics, Moltmann’s work has left a significant impression on China over the last four decades, and Thurston’s fascinating study illuminates the networks of scholars, institutions, and intellectual histories involved in creating this imprint. The keynote is dialogue: in refuting Schmitt, engaging Daoism, or intervening in surprising ways in the debate on ancestor veneration, Moltmann emerges as a keen advocate of Chinese theology. Thurston’s work raises broad questions about theological dialogue, construction, and transmission that reach well beyond Sino-Christian theology.”Chloë Starr, Professor of Asian Christianity and Theology at Yale Divinity School “Thurston has researched the reception of Jürgen Moltmann’s theology in the Chinese humanities from the perspective of a first-person participant. Readers will discover that Chinese academic theology has not been captive to German theology but, rather, with the ongoing development of Sino-Christian theology in its critical and mutually constructive dialogue with theological interlocutors such as Moltmann, has been growing and thriving, leaving its mark on Chinese academia through ‘creative transformation.’”Daniel Yeung, Founding Director, Institute of Sino-Christian Studies, Hong Kong

• Part I: Context and Background 1: Introduction — Moltmann in China: A Sino-theological Reception History 2: Background — Sino-Christian Studies and Sinicizing Christianity: 1980s—2020s Part II: Reception, Interaction, and Dialogue 3: Hope from the Cross — Moltmann’s Theology across Disciplines: Beijing, Taiwan, and Hong Kong 4: “Covenant or Leviathan?” Moltmann’s New Political Theology in Beijing 5: From Reception to Dialogue: Moltmann and Sino-Theology Part III: Conclusion and Postscript 6: Conclusion — An Ongoing Dialogue: Moltmann in Chinese Theology