Religious Studies, Theology and Sino-Christian Studies

Religious Studies, Theology and Sino-Christian Studies

LAI Pan-chiu

The recent publication of Paulus Huang (Huang Baoluo)'s Sino-Christian Academic Theology: The Study of Christianity as an Academic Discipline (in Chinese: Hanyu Xueshu Shenxue: Zuowei Xueke Tixi De Jidujiao Yanjiu; Beijing: Religious Culture Publishing House, 2008) signifies an important and ambitious attempt to establish “Sino-Christian Studies”, which refers to the study of Christianity in the Chinese academia, as a formal academic discipline in Mainland China. Through a brief survey of the major models of academic theology or Christian Studies prevalent in Western universities, this paper attempts to show that the model of academic theology advocated by Huang tends to assume that the academic study of Christianity is some sort of professional training and that Religious Studies is part of Theology. This model is derived from the particular situation of European Continent and represents merely one of the possible models for academic theology. This paper further argues that given the concrete situations of the universities in Mainland China, including the academic as well as religious orientations of the students and teachers, the social and political environments, the relationship between the academic and ecclesiastical circles, the model advocated by Huang may not be so suitable for the universities in Mainland China, though it is adopted by many independent theological seminaries and universities in the Western world. A more appropriate model for the universities in Mainland China is to take the academic study of Christianity as a sort of liberal education rather than professional training, assume its institutional affiliation to Religious Studies as the starting point, and seek for creative interaction with other branches of Religious Studies. This model is not merely more practical in and appropriate to the context of Mainland China, but also more beneficial to the development of the Christian churches, the universities and Sino-Christian Studies itself.