The Cambridge Centre for Chinese Theology was established in 2025, following a generous donation from Lux Mundi Inc (USA). Prof. David Fergusson and Dr. Ximian Simeon Xu are its founding Co-Directors.
The dramatic growth of both Chinese Christianities and the churches of global Chinese diasporas is generating increased interaction between Western and Chinese theological academia. However, extensive cross-cultural collaboration in the UK remains underdeveloped. The Centre aims to advance Chinese theology understood in the broadest sense through addressing the context and concerns of Chinese Christians, the study of theological work emerging from China and the Chinese diaspora, and the facilitating of closer links between theologians from the West and those in China and elsewhere in Asia. It seeks to facilitate global and cross-cultural dialogue on Chinese theologies and serve as an interface between Western and East Asian theological institutions and scholars.
The Centre has the following threefold aim:
(1) To extend the research scope of academic theology in the UK
Over the past several decades, the reception of Western theology in the circle of Chinese Christianities has already produced a significant volume of theological outputs. Through the Faculty of Divinity, the Centre will engage intensively with theologies in Chinese and, more broadly, East Asian culture.
(2) To catalyse exchange and collaboration between Western and Chinese theologians and religious thinkers worldwide
The Centre will provide both Western and Chinese theologians with an opportunity to collaborate on key theological themes from various cultural, theological, and philosophical perspectives. This will expose Western and Chinese scholars to a wider range of perspectives, theological traditions, and values, leading to the cross-cultural flourishing of theological study.
(3) To create and foster academic links between leading universities, divinity schools and scholars in Europe, North America, East Asia, and South Asia, by advancing the study of Chinese theologies
This international engagement will create a network of collaboration on Chinese theologies extending beyond individual partnerships. These academic links will enable collaboration on problems and challenges which concern both Chinese and Western communities.
2025 Launch Event Cambridge Centre for Chinese Theology
You are warmly invited to join us on 02/10/2025 at the official Launch Event for the Cambridge Centre for Chinese Theology for an afternoon filled with interesting talks and lectures, followed by a Drinks Reception to celebrate the opening of the CCCT. The detailed programme and registrations are available here.
Contact us on ccct@divinity.cam.ac.uk or sign-up to the CCCT newsletter
Current Research Projects
Book project: T&T Clark Handbook of Artificial Intelligence, Religion, and Ethics
Editors:
Simeon Xu, Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge
George Coghill, School of Natural and Computing Sciences, University of Aberdeen / Edinburgh Theological Seminary
Artificial Intelligence has attracted significant attention from religious communities; this has given rise to a growing scholarly literature. A result of this religious and theological engagement with AI over the past decade makes this an opportune time for a comprehensive examination of that interaction! One goal will be to explore how theology and AI can stimulate and enhance each other.
Aside from mainstream AI-and-religion studies, which often focus on sci-fi AI, we recognise that there is important work to be done in assessing the real-world effects of AI, particularly with respect to spiritual matters. Hence the T&T Clark Handbook of Artificial Intelligence, Religion, and Ethics is dedicated to articulating the interplay between state-of-the-art AI technology and religion/theology from ethical perspectives (while remaining somewhat attentive to the influence of sci-fi AI).
This volume is divided into five parts. Part I aims to lay a foundation for the remaining chapters, exploring themes such as AI definition(s), philosophy, ethics, and its relation to religion(s) and theology. Part II seeks to examine interactions between AI and diverse religions, including Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism. Part III inquires into challenges posed by AI technology for theology from the perspectives of multiple theological themes, and probes how AI and theology can enhance each other. Part IV delves into AI ethics from theological perspectives. It articulates theological approaches to AI ethics and develops theological responses to crucial themes related to AI. Part V turns to the public issues surrounding wide-ranging AI applications and attempts to advance theological approaches to integrating AI technology into human communities.
This volume presents an interreligious, cross-cultural, theological, and ethical way to promote the development of AI-and-religion research.
Book project: After Sino-Christian Theology: Exploring the Theological Frontiers of Chinese Christianities
Editors:
Simeon Xu, Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge
Quan Li, School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh
Sino-Christian theology as a theological movement emerged in the late 1980s and has significantly facilitated the growth and expansion of Chinese-language theology. It is primarily linked with Chinese academic communities. While some confessional and ecclesiastically committed Christian scholars joined this theological movement, the majority of Sino-Christian theologians are from Chinese universities and academic institutions, largely shaping Sino-Christian theology as a humanities discipline practised by Chinese university academics rather than theological practice in churches. Given this, there is important work to be done in exploring the theological frontiers of Chinese Christianities (i.e. all branches of Christianity among Chinese communities), going beyond Sino-Christian theology and serving both ecclesial and academic communities.
This volume seeks to probe Chinese theological practice after Sino-Christian theology. It is divided into three parts. Part I presents a historical account of Sino-Christian theology through investigating the phenomenon of cultural Christians, ecclesial response to this theological movement, and how theological translation has shaped the Chinese-language theological landscape over the past decades. Part II critically engages with the legacies of Sino-Christian theology in various research fields, sketching out the status quo of Sino-Christian theology and paving a way for constructive work on Chinese theology. Part III constructively explores the future trajectories of Chinese theology, moving towards post-Sino-Christian theology or a new phrase of Chinese theology. It looks into some underexplored, emerging, or pressing subjects. By doing so, it characterises the frontiers of Chinese theology as both confessional-academic and contextual-global.