Familiar Themes, New Angles
The articles in this issue present new angles on familiar themes within World Christianity. Translation, the regional histories of churches and organisations, material aspects of religious belonging, and diasporic Christianity are all explored here. Particular case-studies in specific geographical locations are examined in each article. Yet each article also acknowledges the ways that Christians in one area relate to those in another part of the world. The intersection of a specific context and the actors’ wider connections are the ingredients for exploring a theme for a fresh perspective.
In each of these articles, attention to a specific place and organisation allows the authors to examine new aspects of wider themes, furthering knowledge and understanding of World Christianity as both local and global, distinct and interconnected. Reading these articles, we observe how and why translation and interpretation of key concepts shaped a Christian movement, how far regional histories of global organisations and women’s groups in mission-initiated churches disseminate and adapt Christian practices and values. We learn in what ways material aspects of religious identity influence behaviour and belonging, and how diasporic churches live their fellowship in marginal and hostile environments.
- Zihao He, “Chinese Heaven as the Christian God: An Analysis of the Notion of Tian in the Taiping Rebellion“
- Li Fang, “Actors and Critical Junctures — The Missionary Work of the Young Men’s Christian Association in China during the Late Qing and Early Republic Periods“
- Wong Wai-Yin Christina, “From Bible Women to Secretaries of Home-Visits: Uncovering an Invisible History of Laywomen’s Ministry in the Hong Kong Anglican Church (1880s to the Present)“
- Marike Blok-Sijtsma, “The Significance of Uniform for Members of the Women’s Fellowship in the Reformed Church in Zambia“
- Joseph Bosco Bangura, “‘I Look for my Father’s House’: Afro-Christian Spatiality of African Pentecostal Migrant Churches in Flemish Belgium“
This is an excerpt from the editorial of SWC 32.1 by Emma Wild-Wood, entitled ‘Familiar Themes, New Angles’.