Chinese Theology Books Podcast

Ji Li, At the Frontier of God’s Empire: A Missionary Odyssey in Modern China

In this episode, Ji Li discusses her book, At the Frontier of God’s Empire with Chloë Starr. The book tells the story of French missionary Alfred Caubrière who before his murder in 1948 left behind some 800 letters to his family, as well as 13 volumes of transcripts of everyday conversations in the local dialect among villagers in Santaizi, Manchuria. The episode discusses the life of Caubrière and especially his experience of the weeks-long siege of Santaizi church by the Boxer Rebels in 1900, as well as his depictions of the lives and beliefs of local Catholics.

Joseph W. Ho, Developing Mission: Photography, Filmmaking, and American Missionaries in Modern China

In this episode, Joseph Ho discusses his book, Developing Mission: Photography, Filmmaking, and American Missionaries in Modern China with Chloë Starr. The conversation ranges from camera technology in the interwar years to the documentation of disease in mission hospitals and circulation of missionary films documenting Japanese war crimes. If the creation of new types of images (such as baptism photographs) changes how we see the self and other, the cultural exchange of transnational images also played a role in Sino-US relations.

Jesse Sun, Salvation and Revolution

In this episode Jesse Zixi Sun discusses his new book, Salvation and Revolution: A Twentieth Century Odyssey of the Chinese Protestant Mind, with Chloë Starr. They discuss the relationship between national modernization and religious salvation in China, and the disproportionate civic and social engagement of Christian intellectuals in national life in the early twentieth century.

Naomi Thurston, Moltmann in China

In this episode Naomi Thurston discusses her new book, Moltmann in China: Reception and Dialogue, with Chloë Starr. They discuss the reception of Moltmann’s theology—from despair and hope to eco-theology—among Chinese scholars, and Moltmann’s own forays into comparative work with his studies of the Daodejing.

Alex Chow, Chinese Heritage in British Christianity

In this episode Alex Chow discusses his new edited book, Chinese Heritage in British Christianity: more than foreigners, with Chloë Starr. They talk about the history of the Chinese church in the UK, Chinese heritage in British Christianity, and the diversity of Chinese-speaking congregations today.