The practice of religious conversion in the 21st century has revived academic interest in the subject. Most theories and frameworks for understanding religious conversion are still based on outdated models. Recent studies have focused primarily on converts’ testimonies, which is a valuable starting point for contextualizing religious conversion. However, much of this research has concentrated on individuals and their past religious worldviews. There is a significant gap in understanding the contextualization of religious conversion in relation to culture, theology, community, and other factors. In September, OCMS will address this gap through its MBL lecture series, focusing on the contextualization of religious conversion in the majority world. Full Programme Details here
Previous Lectures
Overview On this special 35th anniversary, this lecture argues that the 1989 Democracy Movement and the Tiananmen Square Massacre triggered the Chinese Great Awakening. Thenceforward, Christianity has been the fastest-growing religion in China because it has become culturally indigenized, socially contextualized, and politically engaged, making it the most appealing religion for the Chinese in pursuit of modernity in the globalizing world.
Speaker Dr. Fenggang Yang
About the speaker Dr. Fenggang Yang is a Professor of Sociology and the founding Director of the Center on Religion and the Global East at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. He is working on a book, The Rise of Christianity in Modernizing China (Oxford University Press).
