The Southern Cross: Navigating New Horizons in 21st Century Global Evangelicalism
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Ideas That Matter is an online lecture series hosted by Regent College this academic year with the purpose of cultivating theological engagement with contemporary issues that are particularly relevant at this cultural moment.
Those of us in the North naturally find our bearings for location and navigation from the North Star, just as evangelicals in the North find our historic identity and "horizons of understanding" from Europe and North America. However, just as encountering the constellation of the Southern Cross opens up whole new horizons for us, so our encounter with the rapid rise of evangelicalism in the global South expands our awareness and appreciation of, and invites us to deeper engagement with, the global Body of Christ.
Please join us as Regent College welcomes Dr. Alexander Chow (Asia), Dr. Ruth Padilla DeBorst (Latin America), and Bishop Dr. D. Zac Niringiye (Africa) to discuss the changing face of global evangelism in light of the shift of the center of world Christianity to the global South. Regent's Dr. Diane Stinton will serve as moderator for this discussion.
Dr. Alexander Chow is Senior Lecturer in Theology and World Christianity at the University of Edinburgh. He is a Chinese American, born and raised in Southern California. He is co-director of the Centre for the Study of World Christianity, co-editor of the journal Studies in World Christianity (Edinburgh University Press), and editor of the Chinese Christianities book series (Notre Dame Press). Dr. Chow has written a number of articles on Christianity in China, and more broadly, in East Asia. He has written two books, Theosis, Sino-Christian Theology and the Second Chinese Enlightenment (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013; Chinese edition: Institute of Sino-Christian Studies, 2015) and Chinese Public Theology: Generational Shifts and Confucian Imagination in Chinese Christianity (Oxford University Press, 2018).
Dr. Ruth Padilla DeBorst is a well-known Latin American theologian who has been involved in leadership development and theological education for several decades. She passionately pursues ecological justice, authentic community, and participative, contextual forms of theological education. Ruth currently serves with Resonate Global Mission and CETI (Comunidad de Estudios Teológicos Interdisciplinarios) and is on the Networking Team of INFEMIT (The International Fellowship for Mission as Transformation). Ruth has been involved in leadership development and theological education for integral mission in her native Latin America for many years. As a missionary with Christian Reformed World Missions she first served in student ministry with the Comunidad Internacional de Estudiantes Evangélicos (IFES), next with Seeds of New Creation, a ministry that trains for and promotes holistic mission in El Salvador, and later with the Institute ProIntegral Education. She and her husband, James, have more children and grandchildren than they can count and live in the intentional community of Casa Adobe in Costa Rica.
Bishop Dr. Zac Niringiye is a theologian, pastor, and civic-political activist in Uganda, involved in several civil society-led social justice and peace campaigns as a Citizens’ Manifesto Ambassador. He is a Senior Fellow at The Institute of Religion, Faith and Culture in Public Life (INTERFACE). He has previously served at Makerere University as a Visiting Fellow in the Human Rights and Peace Centre (HURIPEC) Department in the School of Law, where he was leading a project on Religion, Human Rights and Peace. He is also the author of The Church: God's Pilgrim People. Bishop Niringiye took an early retirement from serving as Assistant Bishop in the Church of Uganda in 2012, to serve in the cause of social justice and good governance in Uganda.
Dr. Diane Stinton is Dean of Students and Associate Professor of Mission Studies and World Christianity at Regent College. She specializes in the study of world Christianity, particularly in theological developments in the global South. She has taught theology for many years in Kenya, where she helped launch two new programs: an MTh in African Christianity at Daystar University, and an MTh in World Christianity at the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (NEGST). She is the author of Jesus of Africa: Voices of Contemporary Christology and the editor of African Theology on the Way: Current Conversations.
During the event, please submit questions for the panel to [email protected].
