The number of universities in England where Faculties of Theology and Religious Studies and Oriental Studies are alongside one another is now quite small. The most obvious are Cambridge, Oxford and London. However, whereas in London Oriental Studies and Theology are located separately in autonomous colleges, and in Oxford Theology and Oriental Studies do not interact significantly, in Cambridge the Theology and Religious Studies course has developed steadily since the 1970s to include the study of non-Western religions, and it has very close links with the Faculty of Oriental Studies, which contains specialist Centres for South Asian and East Asian Studies. Robinson College, also close by, is the home of the Joseph Needham collection on Chinese science.
The Centre for Advanced Religious and Theological Studies was established within the Cambridge Faculty of Divinity in 1995 to promote collaborative and inter-disciplinary research with other British and non-British universities and seminaries, including externally-funded research projects as well as those undertaken by members of the University's teaching staff. Three Asia-related projects within CARTS exemplify this goal in different ways: the Dharam Hinduja Institute of Indic Research is concerned with the study of Indian religious traditions and their modern applications; the Currents in World Christianity Project (now ended) reflected a concern for the study of missions and missiology; and the Christianity in Asia Project has been concerned with the Asian contribution to World Christianity.
In 1997 the Centre for Advanced Religious and Theological Studies (CARTS) of the Faculty of Divinity set up the Christianity in Asia Project. Led by Prof. Archie Lee and assisted by Dr Damayanthi Niles, the Project explored Asian biblical hermeneutics, and later diversified under Dr Nam-Soon Kang, a specialist in Asian feminist theology.
The Christianity in Asia Project is intended to contribute to the crossing of boundaries between countries, cultures, and theological traditions. It seeks to explore the nature of contemporary Christian mission in a global context and involves a sense of the appropriate balance between the ecumenical and the local. It is one of the projects in the CARTS Programme on Mission and World Christianity.
Although there is tremendous diversity and richness within Christian traditions in Asia, Asian Christianity and its theologies have not always been explored sympathetically or introduced to wider scholarship. There is therefore ample scope for research on Christianity in Asia and networking between scholars of Asian and Western countries. Such interaction is vital for the furtherance of the understanding of Asian Christianity as well as highlighting its importance to Christian theology. By being in Cambridge, which is recognised for its academic excellence, the Project is a catalyst to facilitate this interaction through publications, seminars and consultations, providing courses and research environments. The Project is also in the process of publishing a one-volume textbook on Asian Christian theologies.
Over the years, the Christianity in Asia Project has created close links with Asian centres of Christian studies and theology through the following activities: conducting research; contributing teaching to courses in the Faculty; holding seminars, lectures and consultations; inviting leading Asian Christian scholars and theologians to Cambridge; sponsoring members of the Cambridge Faculty to visit Asia for lectures, seminars and conferences; and encouraging more Asian graduate students to study in Cambridge.
The Project is also the European base for the Network of Theological Enquiry (NOTE), which links several theological centres, mainly in Asia and Europe, but including some in Africa, the Caribbean, South America, North America and the Pacific.
In the next phase, the main purpose of the Christianity in Asia Project will be to examine Christian theologies arising out of Asian churches and facilitate their interaction with other theologies, especially in the West. By employing both historical and theological methodology, it is intended to explore the contributions of Asian Christian theologies to worldwide Christianity so that Asian perspectives on Christian theology can enrich the wider Christian churches. By being a platform in Cambridge for Asian theologians and Western theologians, the Project will seek to provide a place for mutual interaction between these scholars and students. Its networking with other similar projects or centres in Africa, Latin America and the Pacific will also be strengthened. The research questions to be addressed are such as: What are the distinctivenesses of Asian theologies in their historical development? What are the commonalities of and differences between Asian theologies? How does Asian Christianity relate to socio-political and religious issues in a given context? And what are the contributions of Asian theologies to contemporary theological discussions within world Christianity?
In order to address the above questions, the Christianity in Asia Project will aim:
To examine distinctive characteristics of the historical and theological development of Christianity in Asia.
To introduce Christian experiences and theological insights from Asian Christianity to the wider Christian churches.
To provide a network whereby concerned students and scholars interact through seminars, consultations and exchange programmes.
To publish a series of books and a journal on Christianity in Asia.
To provide teaching and research facilities for students and scholars on the subject.
The above aims and objectives will be achieved through five main programmes: conducting seminars, consultations, publications, networking, and teaching and research.
The Project will set a different theme relating to contemporary Christianity in Asia for each year and, accordingly, the seminars will be conducted twice a term (from Lent Term 2003: a total of six seminars per academic year) and the invited speakers, both Asian and non-Asian, will be expected to produce a paper for publication. The themes could include: fundamentalism; ecology; socio-political justice; poverty; feminist theology; living religions and spiritualities; globalisation; etc.
The Christianity in Asia Project will also aim to have a consultation in 2005 in Korea, Singapore or India. The aim of the consultation will be to provide a forum for both Asian and non-Asian theologians to interact and to produce textbooks, which will give a general overview of Asian theologies.
The Project aims to publish each year's seminar papers in Britain and Asia, adding in each case four to six more papers by theologians from in Asia (a total of 10-12 articles). In addition, the outcome of the consultation will be published as a three-volume textbook of Asian theologies (South Asia; South East Asia; and East Asia). Furthermore, towards the end of the third year, the Project aims to launch a bi-annual academic journal of Christianity in Asia. A Cambridge-based academic journal on Christianity in Asia will draw great interest from Christian churches in Asia as well as in the West and will encourage on-going development of scholarship on the subject. The journal could also include English translation of significant articles which were originally written in vernacular languages.
The Christianity in Asia Project hopes to enable students and scholars from Asia to come to Cambridge to do research and to teach. In return, Faculty of Divinity members will also hope to be able to visit Asian universities and seminaries to teach and to interact with scholars there. The Project already hosts informal gatherings for Asian Christians and those who are interested in studies in Asian Christianity in Cambridge.
The Christianity in Asia Project hopes to enable lecturers from Asian countries to come to Cambridge and contribute to teaching for the undergraduate Theological and Religious Studies Tripos (B.A. degree) in World Christianity. An MPhil course on World Christianity has just been developed in cooperation with the Henry Martyn Centre, the Centre for African Studies and the Centre of South Asian Studies and will be available with effect from October 2003. The Project will also contribute to the supervision of PhD students in Cambridge.
The Faculty of Divinity is offering a new one-year M.Phil. programme in World Christianity, starting in October 2003. The purpose of this programme is to examine issues and themes in World Christianity from theological, historical and sociological perspectives.
The seminar course will include the inculturation of Christianity, dialogue with people of other faiths, poverty and social justice, suffering and sacrifice, diversity of hermeneutics, fundamentalisms, and Pentecostal movements. These issues and themes will be discussed:
with special reference to particular contexts in Africa, Asia and Latin America
by giving attention to significant theologians in these settings, and
by comparing and contrasting these contexts with North American and European trends.
This subject will be examined by:
submission of a thesis
one seminar-related essay
two of the following three items
a general essay
an 'exercise' (written work)
a language.
Students exercise considerable freedom in choosing the topics, methods and perspectives they pursue.
A Cambridge M.Phil. may stand on its own as a higher degree; it also provides an excellent transition to full-scale Ph.D. research because it introduces the candidate to research skills and specialist knowledge. An M.Phil. dissertation in particular may provide valuable introductory experience in the preparation and conduct of academic research. Candidates can apply for the M.Phil. course alone or as the first year of the Ph.D. Permission to continue to the Ph.D. is subject to candidate's performance in the M.Phil. examinations. Those who hold/are completing a Master of Theology degree in a relevant subject at another institution may be able to proceed directly to a Ph.D.
If you are interested in studying at Cambridge, please see:
For further details of the M.Phil. in World Christianity contact: Dr David Thompson (Section Director; dmt3@cam.ac.uk) Dr Brian Stanley (History; bs217@cam.ac.uk) Dr Timothy Jenkins (Sociology; tdj22@jesus.cam.ac.uk) Dr Sebastian Kim (Theology; schk2@cam.ac.uk)
Course outline
Issues and themes in world Christianity:
Understanding theology in its historical, social and political setting
Contemporary topics in the sociology of religion
Inculturation of Christianity (with special reference to African Christianity):
Contextualisation
Global and local contexts
Gospel and culture
European exceptionalism: comparison or contrast?
Dialogue with people of other faiths (with special reference to Indian Christianity):
Dialogical models
Enreligionisation
Theologies of religions
Poverty and social justice (with special reference to Latin American liberation theology):
Globalisation and local economies
U.S. religion at home and abroad
Political struggle and local communities
Religions as both liberative and oppressive
Suffering and sacrifice (with special reference to East Asia):
The cross and national history
"The pain of God"
People as subjects of history
Diversity of hermeneutics (liberationist interpretation of the Bible)
Hermeneutical tools
Post-colonial interpretation
Feminist readings of the Bible
Inter-faith hermeneutics
Forms of fundamentalism (with special reference to U.S. and Asia)
Christian fundamentalism
Muslim and Hindu fundamentalisms
The theory of the clash of civilizations
Pentecostalism (with special reference to movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America)
The Christianity in Asia Project is the contact point for the Network Of Theological Enquiry (NOTE), which links Africa, East Asia, South Asia, the Caribbean, North and South America, Europe and the Pacific in a sustained programme of theological enquiry by tapping into national and regional centres of theological discussion.
The Christianity in Asia Project hosted the third NOTE meeting in Cambridge in March 2000, to explore the prospects, problems and perspectives of the role of religion in the new millennium. The first and second meetings were held in Hong Kong in March 1998 and November 1999 respectively. The fourth meeting of NOTE was held in Chennai (South India) in January 2002 and the fifth meeting will be held in Cape Town in March 2004.
The Project's original funding came from the Council for World Mission (CWM), a world-wide partnership of some 30 Reformed and United Churches which emerged from the work of the former London Missionary Society (founded in 1795).
We are now indebted to Kalos Ministries, Korea for taking over the funding of the Project.
If you are interested in participating in the Project or supporting it, please contact the Project Director (see Contacts, below).
