Confucianism and Christianity Interreligious Dialogue on the Theology of Mission Studies in World Christianity and Interreligious Relations Series

This book reflects on three broad themes of Confucian-Christian relations to assist in the appreciation of the church?s theology of mission. While the themes of this volume are theological in orientation, the dialogue is engaged in from an interdisciplinary approach that prioritises the act of listening.

Part I surveys the historical background necessary for an adequate understanding of the contemporary Confucian-Christian dialogues. It examines the history of Confucian-Christian relations, explores the Chinese Rites Controversy, and delineates the contemporary task of indigenizing Christianity by Sino-Christian theologians. Part II compares elements in the Confucian and Christian traditions that exemplify the epitome and fullness of spiritual development. It discusses the Confucian practice of rites (li), interrogates how the noble or exemplary person (junzi) competes, and outlines the Confucian understanding of sageliness (shengren). Lastly, Part III examines different aspects of the church?s engagements with the world outside of itself. It advocates for a Confucian-Christian hermeneutic of moral goodness, attends to the Confucian emphasis on moral self-cultivation, proposes that Confucian virtue ethics can shed light on Christian moral living, and offers a Confucian-Christian understanding of care for mother earth.

This book is ideally suited to lecturers and students of both Christian studies and Confucian studies, as well as those engaged in mission studies and interfaith studies. It will also be a valuable resource for anyone interested in comparative religious and theological studies on Christianity and Confucianism.

Foreword-Peter Phan; Introduction-Edmund Chia; PART I: SURVEY AND HISTORY; 1 History of Confucian-Christian Relations-Edmund Chia; 2 Confucian Ancestor Veneration and the Chinese Rites Controversy-Jonathan Tan; 3 The Faith Identity of Contemporary Sino-Christian Theology-Jason Lam; PART II: EXEMPLARS AND EXCELLENCE; 4 Contribution of Confucian Rites (li) to Christian Liturgical Life-Sung-Hae Kim;5 Sports and Educating to Fraternal Humanism: How the Junzi Competes-Jude Chua; 6 Becoming a Shengren: A Confucian-Christian Appraisal of the Sage/Saint-Anh Tran; PART III: MISSIO AD EXTRA; 7 The Transformative Mission of God: A Confucian-Christian Vision-K. K. Yeo; 8 Mission as Witness: Confucian Insights for a Church in Crisis-Stephanie Wong; 9 Confucian-Christian Dialogue on Social Ethics and Moral Living-Mary Yuen; 10 Laudato Si and Confucian-Christian Dialogue on the Ecology-Anselm Min

Edmund Kee-Fook Chia is a Senior Lecturer of Theology at the Australian Catholic University, Fellow at the University of Divinity (Melbourne), and Visiting Researcher at Radboud University Nimegen (Netherlands). He headed the interreligious dialogue office of the Asian Bishops from 1996 to 2004 and taught at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago before migrating to Australia in 2011. He is the author of World Christianity Encounters World Religions (2018) and a forthcoming book by Routledge on Asian Christianity and Theology.