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World religion, internationalisation and global citizenship

World religion, internationalisation and global citizenship. Teaching Christian theology in the 21st century. Abstract.

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World religion, internationalisation and global citizenship

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  1. World religion, internationalisation and global citizenship Teaching Christian theology in the 21st century Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  2. Abstract • Christianity qualifies as a world religion for many reasons, including the fact that it has, since New Testament times, been at home in diverse local contexts while also maintaining global connections. Today Christian churches are found in almost every country of the world and are linked together globally by many networks, including denominations, mission organisations, ecumenical bodies and migration movements. This paper will explore how Christian theology is taught in Britain in the twenty-first century is changing, and could change, in view of world Christianity and the fact that European Christians are no longer a majority of the world’s Christian population. In particular, it considers internationalising the theological curriculum, which will be shown to have implications for biblical studies, systematics, history and practice, and also for theology’s relationship to religious studies and other disciplines. The paper will suggest that if theology can draw more effectively on its multi-cultural nature and international heritage, it could make a key contribution in an era when policy makers and institutions are calling for internationalisation of higher education to better equip students for a globalised world. Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  3. Outline • Christianity as a world religion • Globalization in education • Internationalising theology Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  4. Christianity as a world religion • Sebastian Kim & Kirsteen Kim, Christianity as a World Religion (Continuum 2008) Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  5. In what sense is Christianity a world religion? • Ideologically • Topographically • Theologically • Geographically • Historically • Structurally • Socio-politically Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  6. Ideology: one of many world religions Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  7. Topography: widespread on the map Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  8. Theology: Christianity as essentially worldwide Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  9. Geography: Christianity as a world religion in the first millennium Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  10. History: Christianity as contextual Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  11. Structure: trans-national forms of Christianity Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  12. Society and politics: world Christianity as globalization from below Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  13. Christianity as a world religion • Introduction • European Christianity • African Christianity • North American Christianity • Latin American Christianity • Asian Christianity • Conclusion Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  14. World Christianity Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  15. Christian global networks • International mission organisations • World Christian bodies • Roman Catholic Church • World Council of Churches • World Evangelical Alliance • Anglican Communion • Etc • Development organisations • Diaspora and migration movements • World Christian forums (e.g. Edinburgh 2010) Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  16. Globalization • Global economy • Markets • Migration • One planet • Environment • Ecology Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  17. Internationalising initiatives • Business pressures • Government agendas • Higher Education Academy initiatives • Institutional internationalisation strategies Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  18. Business pressures • Global market in education • International students • Internet and online learning • Education for a globalised world • Global citizenship • Cross-cultural capability • Sustainability • Internationalisation Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  19. Prime minister’s initiative • Phase II (2006-2011) • ‘aims to attract an additional 100,000 overseas students to study in the UK and encourage partnerships between universities and colleges in the UK and overseas’ Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  20. Department for Education and Schools 2004 • ‘Putting the World into World-Class Education’ • Three goals: • Equipping our children, young people and adults for life in a global society and work in a global economy • Engaging with our international partners to achieve their goals and ours • Maximising the contribution of our education and training sector, and university research to overseas trade and inward investment • Links to • 2012 Olympics • EU and Bologna process • Relations with Africa, India, China Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  21. Higher Education Academy • ‘supporting internationalisation initiatives that aim to enhance the student learning experience’ • Includes: • Curriculum for a global, multi-cultural context • Learning experience of international students • Engaging with the Bologna process Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  22. Select HEA output • Academy Exchange, 5, Winter 2006, ‘Internationalisation’ • HEA Philosophical and Religious Studies project, ‘Supporting Cultural and Religious Diversity’. Report in Teaching in Higher Education 12/5-6 (2007), pp. 621-643 • HEA event 2009: ‘New Perspectives on Internationalisation: Enhancing the Student Experience’, Edinburgh • Darlene L. Bird & Simon G. Smith (eds), Theology and Religious Studies in Higher Education: Global Perspectives (Continuum, 2009) Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  23. Internationalising the UK Student Experience • Overseas Students • Partnerships, Exchanges and Alumni • Overseas Staff • Bologna and the European Dimension Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  24. Internationalising the theological curriculum • Teaching Christianity as a world religion • ‘embedding an international dimension into the curriculum’ • Encouraging a global perspective on theological studies Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  25. Theological curriculum • Biblical studies • Church/Christian history • Pastoral/practical theology • Systematic theology/dogmatics • Relationship of Theology and Religious Studies Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  26. Theology and Religious Studies Studying Christianity as a world religion… • Sets it in the context of religious studies – both theoretically and actually • Reveals that Christian theology is part of Christian studies • Removes the false separation of Christianity (European) from other religions (mostly Asian) • Challenges Religious Studies to take ‘theological’ development of religions seriously Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  27. Pastoral/practical theology • Multi-cultural ministry • Inter-religious dialogue • Cross-cultural mission • World church relations • Relating to migrant and diaspora churches Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  28. Edinburgh 2010 • Research project and conference on Christian mission • Involving Orthodox, Catholics, Protestants, Evangelicals and Pentecostals • Daryl Balia & Kirsteen Kim (eds), Edinburgh 2010: Witnessing to Christ Today (Regnum 2010) • www.edinburgh2010.org Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  29. Biblical studies • Recognition of West Asian origins of the Bible • Emphasis on diverse cultures and places of origin in the Bible, e.g. gospels • Admitting a variety of hermeneutical methods • Allowing for different communities of interpretation and different narratives • Post-colonial readings Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  30. R.S. Sugirtharajah • Troublesome Texts: The Bible in Colonial and Contemporary Culture (2008) • The Bible and Empire: Postcolonial Explorations (2005) • Postcolonial Reconfigurations: An Alternative Way of Reading the Bible and Doing Theology (2003) • Postcolonial Criticism and Biblical Interpretation (2002) • The Bible and the Third World: Precolonial, Colonial and Postcolonial Encounters (2001) • Asian Biblical Hermeneutics and Post colonialism: Contesting the Interpretations (1998) Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  31. Church/Christian history • Not just a final chapter on the globalisation of Christianity • Studying history of Christianity in Asia (Moffett 1998, 2005) and Africa (Isichei 1995) in the first millennium • Ecumenical/catholic and international viewpoints • Taking a worldwide perspective on Christian history Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  32. Dale T. Irvin & Scott W. Sunquist • A History of the World Christian Movement • Projected 3 vols • Consulting historians from all continents • Shows Christianity as globally widespread and locally rooted throughout its history Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  33. Back to the beginning • “As in the early church, theology and practice was a matter for ecumenical (i.e. whole world) discussion, so now doing theology is again recognised to be a ‘world endeavour’” • K. Vanhoozer in Craig Ott & Harold A. Netland (eds), Globalizing Theology: Belief and Practice in an Era of World Christianity (IVP 2006), p. 115 Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  34. Implications for doing systematic/dogmatic theology Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  35. Beware generalisations! • ‘All too often statements about what ‘modern Christians accept’ or ‘what Catholics today believe’ refer only to what that ever-shrinking remnant of Western Christians and Catholics believe. Such assertions are outrageous today, and as time goes by they will become ever further removed from reality.’ • Philip Jenkins, The Next Christendom (OUP, 2002), p. 3 Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  36. New sources and dialogue partners • Eastern & Oriental Orthodox theologies • Theological texts from Asia, Africa, Latin America, etc. Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  37. Impact of non-Western movements on British theologians • Eastern & Oriental Orthodox • R. Williams • Liberation theology (Latin America) • C. Rowland, P. Scott • Inter-faith dialogue, religious pluralism (India) • L. Newbigin, T. Gorringe, G. D’Costa • Pentecostal-charismatic movement (the Black root) • J. Dunn, D. Davies, M. Percy Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  38. Contending methods • Incorporating new material into existing tradition • e.g. Roman Magisterium, most traditional theologians • Globalising (Western) theology by including new voices • Kärkkäinen; Schwarz 2005; Ott & Netland 2006; Corrie 2008 • Theology in the context of world Christianity • Tennent 2007 • Theology in global perspective • P. Phan, Orbis Books series; S. Bevans • Inter-cultural theology • e.g. Jongeneel, Wijsen, Exchange journal Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  39. Peter C. Phan • Orbis ‘Theology in Global Perspective’ series • Catholic systematic theology in global perspective • Includes • Richard R. Gaillardetz, Ecclesiology for a Global Church • Daniel G. Groody, Globalization, Spirituality and Justice • Anne Hunt, Trinity • Anthony Kelly, Eschatology and Hope • Neil Ormerod, Creation, Grace and Redemption Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  40. Theology as global conversation • K. Kim, The Holy Spirit in the World: A Global Conversation (Orbis, 2007) • Pneumatology in Korea, India and the West • Series of conversations within contexts and between contexts Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  41. Internationalising theology • Embedded awareness of other continents and non-Western cultures • Interaction with traditions of thought beyond Western and European traditions • Working cross-culturally • Thinking synchronically as well as diachronically • Taking global power relations (economic, political, etc) into account Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  42. Internationalising the curriculum • Theology as a case study • Christianity’s multi-cultural nature make theology relatively advanced in internationalisation • Christian theology includes increasingly strong voices from outside the West • Christian theology provides models relating different traditions: practically, textually, historically and conceptually • These models may be appropriated by other disciplines Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  43. References 1 • Stephen B. Bevans, An Introduction to Theology in Global Perspective (Orbis, 2009) • John Corrie (ed.), Dictionary of Mission Theology (IVP 2008) • Grace Davie, Europe: the Exceptional Case. Parameters of Faith in the Modern World (Darton, Longman and Todd 2002) • Noel Davies and Martin Conway, World Christianity in the 21st Century 2 vols. (SCM-Canterbury Press 2008) • Dyrness, William A. & Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen (eds), Global Dictionary of Theology: A Resource for the Worldwide Church (InterVarsity, 2008) • Adrian Hastings (ed), A World History of Christianity (Cassell 1999) • Dale T. Irvin & Scott W. Sunquist, A History of the World Christian Movement (Orbis 2001) Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  44. References 2 • Elizabeth Isichei, A History of Christianity in Africa, from Antiquity to the Present (Wm B. Eerdmans 1995) • Philip Jenkins, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity (OUP 2002) • Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Christology: A Global Introduction (Baker Academic, 2003) • _____ Pneumatology: A Global Introduction (Eerdmans 2002); Christology: A Global Introduction (Eerdmans 2003) • Kirsteen Kim, The Holy Spirit in the World: A Global Conversation (Orbis 2007) • Sebastian Kim and Kirsteen Kim, Christianity as a World Religion (Continuum 2008) • David Martin, Pentecostalism: The World Their Parish (Blackwell 2002) • Samuel Hugh Moffett, A History of Christianity in Asia Vols. I, II (Orbis1998, 2005) Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  45. References 3 • Craig Ott & Harold A. Netland (eds.), Globalizing Theology (Baker 2006) • Lamin Sanneh, Translating the Message: The Missionary Impact on Culture (Orbis 1989); Whose Religion Is Christianity? The Gospel Beyond the West (Eerdmans 2003) • Schwarz, Hans, Theology in a Global Context (Eerdmans 2005) • Diane Stinton, Jesus of Africa (Orbis 2004) • R.S. Sugirtharajah, The Post-colonial Bible (Sheffield Academic Press 1998) • Timothy T. Tennent, Theology in the Context of World Christianity (Zondervan 2007) • Andrew F. Walls, The Missionary Movement in Christian History (Orbis 1996); The Cross-cultural Process in Christian History (Orbis 2002) Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

  46. World religion, internationalisation and global citizenship End Dr Kirsteen Kim LTUC HEA Courting Controversy conference

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