Studies in World Christianity 31.2

Posted on 21 July 2025 by Alexander Chow

Ancestors, Spirits and the Holy Spirit

Historically, one of the most important theological questions raised by missionaries as they entered new contexts was the so-called ‘term question’ – that is, how do we speak of the Christian God in a new language and a new context? Do we coin a neologism in the new language to transliterate Deus or YHWH, or to translate key divine characteristics? Or, more often, do we look for a ‘high god’ in the new context and appropriate this for Christianity? The term question, if you will, is the key question if the Gospel is to be heard among this new people.

However, as Majority World Christians wrestle with their new faith and their pre-existing cosmologies, a new theological question arises: how do we reckon with our world of spirits and ancestors? No longer is there a term question. Now there is a discernment question. And the focus shifts from the doctrine of God to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. How do we discern the spirits and, therefore, differentiate the one Holy Spirit from the rest?

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Reflections on Yale–Edinburgh in São Paulo

Posted on 9 June 2025 by CSWCEdinburgh

Centre student Zihao He shares his reflections on the 2025 Yale-Edinburgh conference, held in São Paulo, Brazil, on the theme ‘Christianity, Democracy, and Nationalism’.

As a current PhD student at the Centre for the Study of World Christianity, I had the great privilege of attending this year’s Yale–Edinburgh Conference, held at Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie in São Paulo, Brazil. The theme of this year’s gathering, ‘Christianity, Democracy, and Nationalism’, could not be more timely in our increasingly volatile world. It also closely resonates with my own research interests in Chinese pre-modern nationalism, Christianity, and the issue of violence. Significantly, I had the unique opportunity to witness a historical milestone: for the first time, this influential conference was held in the Global South.

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Chinese Heritage in British Christianity book launch

Posted on 8 April 2025 by Nuam Hatzaw

This blog post was written by Centre alumna Nuam Hatzaw, and originally published on the Church Mission Society blog on 8 April 2025.

Last week, in my role with the Acts 11 Centre for Global Witness and Human Migration, I had the pleasure of hosting the launch event for the new book Chinese Heritage in British Christianity: More than Foreigners (SCM Press) edited by Alexander Chow of the University of Edinburgh.

The book responds to an important, ongoing moment in British Christianity. On the one hand, historic denominations across Britain, such as the Church of England, are recording unprecedented decline in church attendance and membership. On the other hand, British Chinese Christianity is one of the fastest growing Christian populations in the UK today, and these Christians are revitalising existing churches or starting new, vibrant congregations that challenge us to think differently about what we mean when we talk about British Christianity.

These were some of the issues explored at the launch, which was attended by 60 people and held in Hammersmith at the historic Chinese Church in London, which was founded by Stephen YT Wang in 1951 and was one of the first Chinese churches in Britain.

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Thirty Years of Studies in World Christianity

Posted on 11 March 2025 by Alexander Chow

This year, Studies in World Christianity celebrates its thirtieth anniversary. Today, readers will recognise it as the leading journal in the study of World Christianity, and often presume it to be founded by the historian Andrew Walls and an extension of the Centre for the Study of World Christianity at the University of Edinburgh. In actuality, the journal was founded in 1995 by a theologian—and one with an international and egalitarian vision—during a time when ‘World Christianity’ was still a nascent discourse.

The Centre itself had a different name when it was established by Andrew Walls in 1982 at the University of Aberdeen, before it moved to Edinburgh in 1987. The Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World, as Walls called it, highlighted the history of Christianity beyond a glorified form of ‘European clan history’ (hence, ‘Non-Western’). Brian Stanley, the Centre’s fourth director, renamed it in 2009 to its current name, because ‘World Christianity’ includes Europe and North America, and is mindful of migratory and indigenous populations.

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