Thur, Jan 15th, 2015, 12:00pm-1:20pm (Pick Hall Lounge): 
“The Vine… So Long That It Encircles the Globe: The Significance of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee in Global Christianity” – Paul Chang

Tuesday, January 12, 2015, 5:00-6:30pm (Swift 208)
Xian-bo Yuan

Public Undergrounds and Underground Publics

Abstract: The paper focuses on how imaginations of exposure and secrecy are animated in the discourse of “above/underground” Christian churches in China, particularly through designations of certain speech genres and actions as “politically sensitive.” It is both an ethnographic and conceptual interrogation of what it means for religious activity to be ‘public’ and/or ‘secret’ in China.

The paper should be read in advance. For a copy of the paper, please email contact-global-christianities@uchicago.edu.

Co-sponsored with the Religion & the Human Sciences Workshop. Refreshments will be provided.

Thur, Nov 20th, 2014, 12:00pm-1:20pm (Pick Hall Lounge): 
“Waking Sleeping Beauty? How Group Structures Change Faith and Tradition in Denmark.” -Lars Buur Norlev

Substantial changes in the expression and organizational structure of Christian life are altering the way the Protestant landscape of Denmark has looked for some 150 years. A driving force in these changes is the adaption of churches to facilitate, or build on, group structures which serve to draw in, mobilize and form young Christian Danes from a diverse range of denominational backgrounds.

Based on three studies within the last two years, this paper documents the groups’ existence in the broader Danish context, the attitude of the participants toward religious issues such as sin and hell, and argues that the groups are a very important part of the lives for the majority of young Christians in Denmark and will continue to be so. The paper further argues that contemporary Protestant Christianity is closing a decisive edge for the scope of the faith, and the way in which it is practiced and lived for a good many years into the future.

Wed, Nov 5th, 2014, 4:30pm-6:00pm (Swift Hall 208): 
“Interrogating Cross-Cultural Inquiry in Philosophy of Religions: A Case Study of Self and Agency in Modern Korean Christianity.” -Hannah Roh

Cross-cultural inquiries of the self in philosophy of religions can proceed to frame the philosophical distinction between ‘self’ and ‘no-self’ as a cultural distinction—between some Western religious traditions and some Eastern religious traditions. One of the more obvious examples that can apply this cultural analysis is the comparative study of the Christian self as part of the Western tradition and the Buddhist non-self as an Eastern practice. What kinds of philosophical and political problems emerge, however, when one religious tradition is historically saturated with cultural dissonance and multiplicity—that is, when the cultural encounter or dissonance between ‘East’ and ‘West’ occurs not between religious traditions, but within (and sometimes, because of) one religious tradition? When the Orthodox Church emerges as a distinct Christian tradition in the East? Or when contemporary Buddhist practices take root in North America or Europe, or when Christianity spreads (through missionary or colonial activity or for other complex reasons) over the East? Defending the significance of culturally and politically embodied historical moments, this paper considers the philosophical complexities of culturally heterogeneous religious traditions by undertaking a specific case study of selfhood and agency in twentieth century Korean Christianity. The first part of the paper will sketch the historical elements opened up by theories of the Christian self in the West by considering contemporary works in philosophy of religion that examine modernity and subjectivity. The second part of the paper will then reflect on the implications of displacing and re-constituting those questions of the Christian self in another cultural context. Finally, I hope to open up further methodological questions concerning the political implications of cross-cultural inquiry in philosophy of religions.

(Co-sponsored with the Philosophy of Religions Workshop)

Immediately following Hannah’s presentation, the Global Christianities Workshop and the Philosophy of Religions Workshop will co-host a pub night at the Ida Noyes Pub, 6:00pm-7:30pm.

Please join us on Thursday, October 23, 2014 at 12:00pm in Swift Hall, room 106 for a presentation and discussion led by Paul Chang, Ph.D.  candidate in History of Christianity, on a chapter from his dissertation: “Intellectual Roots of the Local Church Movement.” Lunch will be provided.

The Local Church Movement is a tight-knit association of hundreds of local assemblies on all six continents. It was founded by the English missionary Margaret Barber, and the Chinese and Chinese-American ministers Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. This chapter of my dissertations explores their intellectual roots in British Christianity, from the radical critiques of the Plymouth Brethren to the unique mysticism of the Keswick Convention.

Please email contact-global-christianities@lists.uchicago.edu if you would like a copy of the paper in advance.