| Funding Scheme : |
General Research Fund |
| Project Number : |
12620722 |
| Project Title(English) : |
Transnational Religious Exchange of Chinese Protestant Christians and Its Socio-Cultural Impacts: The Case of The Chinese Coordination Centre of World Evangelism, 1974-2021 |
| Project Title(Chinese) : |
華人基督徒的跨國宗教交流及其社會文化影響：以世界華人福音事工聯絡中心（1974-2021）為例的研究 |
| Principal Investigator(English) : |
Prof Kwok, Wai-luen |
| Principal Investigator(Chinese) : |
|
| Department : |
Department of Religion and Philosophy |
| Institution : |
Hong Kong Baptist University |
| Co - Investigator(s) : |
|
| Panel : |
Humanities, Social Sciences |
| Subject Area : |
Humanities and Arts |
| Exercise Year : |
2022 / 23 |
| Fund Approved : |
557,000 |
| Project Status : |
On-going
|
| Completion Date : |
31-12-2025 |
Abstract as per original application
(English/Chinese): |
Because Chinese Protestant Christians exist in large numbers in many parts of the world, they assure that Chinese Protestant Christianity a transnational phenomenon. The complex relational matrix establishes Chinese Protestant churches as a complex nexus of relationships developing in transnational religious and socio-cultural exchanges. This project seeks to investigate the characteristics of transnational exchanges of Chinese Protestant Christians and their socio-cultural impacts through the history of The Chinese Coordination Centre of World Evangelism (CCCOWE).
Based in Hong Kong, The CCCOWE is arguably the first and—with 75 district committees globally—the most developed transnational and interdenominational Chinese indigenized Protestant Christian organization. CCCOWE informs and shapes the religious and cultural life of millions of overseas Chinese Christians. It alleviates theological and ancestral local divisions of overseas Chinese Christian communities. It also initiates Christian social participation in moral and environmental issues that many Chinese have challenges negotiating. With its activities and ministries, the organization has evolved into a significant religious, political, and social force in the communities that it serves; emerging as a power center that exerts influence other than the traditional denominations and local church councils. The ministries of CCCOWE articulate and redefine the very understanding of “Chinese” identity in dozens of emerging global communities. It contributes additional complexity to the concept of Protestant Christian and Chinese identity.
This project will explore four key questions 1. What are the religious and socio-cultural factors that led to the founding of CCCOWE? 2. How do Protestant Chinese churches located in different countries connect and interact with each other through CCCOWE, and what are the distinctive characteristics of these relationships? 3. How do religious discourses that develop within the CCCOWE circulate among Chinese churches and what is the pattern of the flow of transnational and transcultural dissemination, influence, and evolution? 4. What are the characteristics of the relationships between religious discourses, Chinese identity construction and socio-cultural impacts of the ministries of CCCOWE?
By employing a historical analysis focused on various published and unpublished documents, oral histories, and ethnographic interviews conducted in major global centers of Chinese Protestantism, my work will provide a fresh, comprehensive, and novel overview and an innovative analytic assessment framework that will allow us to better understand the religious transnational influences of Chinese Protestant diaspora and its recent growth. The project will result in three peer reviewed articles on the transnational interaction of Chinese Christians and a comprehensive monograph on CCCOWE.
華人基督新教教會及信徒遍佈世界不同地方，令華人基督教信仰本身便是一種跨國現象。複雜的宗教、族群與地域關係令華人基督教信仰的跨國宗教和社會文化交流，發展成複雜關係紐帶。本研究項目旨在通過世界華人福音事工聯絡中心（CCCOWE）的歷史，探討華人基督新教的跨國交流的特點及其對社會文化的影響。
世界華人福音事工聯絡中心總部設在香港，它可以說是第一個並且最高度發展的華人基督新教跨國和跨宗派組織。它在全球擁有 75 個地區委員會，推動並塑造數百萬海外華人基督徒的宗教和文化生活。它減低了海外華人基督教群體的神學和祖籍籍貫分歧，還促進他們的社會參與，使他們應對道德和環境問題的挑戰。憑藉其活動和各地區委員會，該組織已發展成為重要的宗教、政治和社會力量，影響不同地方的教會和華人群體。 它的工作也重新定義了不同地區華人基督徒的“中國人/華人”身份理解。它使新教基督徒和華人的身份認同更形複雜。
本項目將探討四個關鍵問題 1. 導致世界華人福音事工聯絡中心成立的宗教和社會文化因素是什麼？ 2. 分佈在不同國家的華人基督教會如何通過世界華人福音事工聯絡中心相互聯繫和互動，這些關係有哪些的特點？ 3. 世界華人福音事工聯絡中心的宗教論述如何形成及在華人教會內傳播？其跨國和跨文化傳播、影響和演變的模式是什麼？ 4. 世界華人福音事工聯絡中心各部委的宗教論述、華人身份建構和社會文化影響之間的關係有什麼特點？
通過對各種已發表和未發表的文獻、口述歷史和在全球主要華人基督新教群體進行民族志訪談的分析，本研究將提供一個全面的概述和分析框架。這將使我們能夠更好地了解華人基督新教信徒的宗教跨國影響。該項目將產生三篇關於中國基督徒跨國互動的同論文和一本關於世界華人福音事工聯絡中心的綜合專著。
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| Research Outcome |
Layman's Summary of
Completion Report: |
Not yet submitted
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