international symposium on “human nature, justice, and society · comparative historian of...

International Symposium on “Human Nature, Justice, and Society: Reinhold Niebuhr in the Chinese Context”

Program Rundown

Date: December 12, 2019 (Thu) Venue: Lecture Theatre 5, Cheng Yu Tung Building, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)

9:45 am - 10:00 am

Reception Time

10:00 am -10:25 am

Opening Ceremony Moderator:

Daniel Yeung 楊熙楠

(Director, Institute of Sino-Christian Studies)

Opening Speeches:

Francis Yip 葉菁華 (Associate Director, Divinity

School of Chung Chi College, CUHK)

Milton Wan 溫偉耀 (Dr. Mok Hing Yiu

Distinguished Professor, Institute of Sino-Christian Studies; Honorary Senior Research Fellow, Divinity School of Chung Chi College, CUHK)

Robin Lovin (Professor Emeritus, Southern Methodist University)

10:25 am -10:40 am

Photo-taking

10:40 am -11:10 am

Session 1: Reinhold Niebuhr in Contemporary Contexts Moderator: Diane Obenchain

(Professor, Fuller Theological Seminary)

Presentation: Reinhold Niebuhr and the Political Possibility of Forgiveness Nigel Biggar (Regius Professor, University of

Oxford)

11:10 am -11:40 am

Presentation: Political Forgiveness: A Contextual and Multidisciplinary Exploration of Reinhold Niebuhr

Pan-chiu Lai 賴品超 (Professor, The Chinese

University of Hong Kong)

11:40 am - 11:50 am

Response:

Kai-man Kwan 關啟文 (Professor, Hong Kong

Baptist University)

11:50 am - 12:20 pm

Open Discussion

12:30 pm -1:45 pm

Lunch Chung Chi Staff Club

2:00 pm -2:30 pm

Session 2: Varieties of Democracy Moderator:

Pan-chiu Lai 賴品超

(Professor, The Chinese University of Hong Kong))

Presentation: Reinhold Niebuhr and Democratic Pluralism Robin Lovin (Professor Emeritus, Southern

Methodist University)

2:30 pm - 3:00 pm

Presentation: A Christian Perspective on the Democratization of China: Based on Reinhold Niebuhr’s The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness

Shang-Jen Chen 陳尚仁 (Associate Professor,

Taiwan Graduate School of Theology)

3:00 pm - 3:10 pm

Response:

Francis Yip 葉菁華 (Associate Director, Divinity

School of Chung Chi College, CUHK)

3:10 pm - 3:40 pm

Open Discussion

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3:40 pm -3:55 pm

Break

3:55 pm - 4:25 pm

Session 3: Human Nature, Love and Justice Moderator: Shang-Jen Chen

陳尚仁 (Associate

Professor, Taiwan Graduate School of Theology)

Presentation: Pacifism, Force, and Human Nature: Y. T. Wu’s Acceptance and Rejection of Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian Realism

Luping Huang 黃路苹 (Research Fellow, Sichuan

University)

4:25 pm - 4:55 pm

Presentation: The Dynamic between Love and Justice: A Confucian Engagement with Reinhold Niebuhr in the Chinese Context

Zhibin Xie 謝志斌 (Professor, Tongji University;

Research Fellow, Institute of Sino-Christian Studies)

4:55 pm - 5:05 pm

Response: Diane Obenchain (Professor, Fuller Theological

Seminary)

5:05 pm - 5:35 pm

Open Discussion

5:35 pm - 5:50 pm

Break

5:50 pm - 5:55 pm

Conclusion Moderator:

Francis Yip 葉菁華 (Associate

Director, Divinity School of Chung Chi College, CUHK)

Concluding Remark: Nigel Biggar (Regius Professor, University of

Oxford)

5:55 pm - 6:00 pm

Concluding Remark:

Shang-Jen Chen 陳尚仁 (Associate Professor,

Taiwan Graduate School of Theology)

6:00 pm - 6:05 pm

Concluding Remark:

Pan-chiu Lai 賴品超 (Professor, The Chinese

University of Hong Kong)

6:05 pm - 6:20 pm

Open Discussion

6:30 pm – 6:45 pm

Coach to Shatin

7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Dinner Jade Garden (Shop 801A, Level 8, New Town Plaza, Phase I, Shatin )

*Each Session: 30mins for each presentation, 10mins for response, and 30mins for discussion.

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Participating Scholars

1. Nigel Biggar

Prof. Nigel Biggar received his Ph.D. from University of Chicago. He is currently Regius Professor of Moral

and Pastoral Theology and Director of McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Life of Oxford

University. His research interests include ethics of empire, nationality, rights, war, assisted suicide &

euthanasia, forgiveness & reconciliation, the role of religion in the public life of liberal societies, and the

bearing of theology on moral life. He is the author of Between Kin and Cosmopolis: An Ethic of the Nation

(2014), In Defense of War (2013, 2014), Behaving in Public: How to Do Christian Ethics (2011), Religious

Voices in Public Places (Co-editor, 2009), etc.

Email: [email protected]

2. Shang-Jen Chen 陳尚仁

Prof. Shang-Jen Chen received his Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary. He is currently president

and associate professor of Taiwan Graduate School of Theology. His research interests include Christian

ethics, sexual, marriage and family Ethics, life education, life and medical Ethics. His publications include

The 12 essential lessons of the fundamental truths of Christianity (Co-author, in Chinese, 2016) and

Studying the Ethical Meaning of Covenant from Several Covenants in Hebrew Bible (in Chinese, 2005).


3. Luping Huang 黃路苹

Dr. Luping Huang received her Ph.D. from Hong Kong Baptist University. She is currently research

associate in the Department of Philosophy at Sichuan University, China. Her research interests include

ethics, patristics and philosophy of religion. Her publications include Women and Pride: An Exploration

of the Feminist Critique of Reinhold Niebuhr’s Theology of Sin (in English, 2018); a Chinese translation of

Langdon Gilkey's book On Niebuhr (forthcoming, 2020).


4. Kai Man Kwan 關啟文

Prof. Kai Man Kwan received his Ph.D. from Oxford University. He is professor of Department of Religion

and Philosophy at Hong Kong Baptist University. His research interests include interconnected:

Postmodernism; Ethics and social philosophy; Philosophy of science; Philosophy of religion; Systematic

theology. His publications include The Rainbow of Experiences, Critical Trust, and God: A Defense of

Holistic Empiricism (in English, 2011) and Christian Ethics & the Secular Free Society (in Chinese, 2007).


5. Pan-chiu Lai 賴品超

Prof. Pan-chiu LAI received his Ph.D. from King’s College London in 1991. He is Professor of Department

of Cultural & Religious Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He serves as chief-editor of Ching

Feng and chairman of academic committee of ISCS. His research interests include inter-religious dialogue,

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mailto:[email protected]




Chinese Christian theology, ecological ethics, etc. He authored Towards a Trinitarian Theology of

Religions: A Study of Paul Tillich’s Thought (1994); Mahayana Christian Theology: Thought-Experiments

of Sino-Christian Theology (in Chinese, 2011), Sino-Christian Theology in the Public Square: From

Theology to Christian Studies (in Chinese, 2014), and numerous articles in relevant journals.


6. Robin Lovin

Prof. Robin Lovin received Ph.D. from Harvard University. He is Cary M. Maguire University Professor of

Ethics emeritus at Southern Methodist University and visiting scholar in theology at Loyola University

Chicago. He served as Dean of Perkins School of Theology at SMU, Dean of the Theological School at

Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, and a member of the faculty at the Divinity School of the

University of Chicago. He is an Honorary Trustee of the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton New

Jersey, and a member of the advisory board for the McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Life

at Oxford University. His research interests include Moral Theology. His most recent books are Christian

Realism and the New Realities (2008) and An Introduction to Christian Ethics (2011). He has also written

extensively on religion and law and comparative religious ethics.


7. Diane Obenchain

Dr. Diane B. Obenchain received Ph.D. from Harvard University. She is Professor of Religion and Director

of the China Initiative in the School of Intercultural Studies (SIS) at Fuller Theological Seminary. As a

comparative historian of religion, her work has two foci: 1) Ru (Confucian) traditions of East and

Southeast Asia and 2) the global, interactive history of faith. She taught (full-time) in Religious Studies in

China 1988-2004 (Peking University, Fudan University, Zhejiang University), with a year at Waseda

University and three years at the National University of Singapore. She has published Something

Exists (commemorating Feng Youlan [Fung Yu-lan]), is completing Small Dictionary for the Study of

Religion (Chinese and English), joined Max L. Stackhouse in editing God and Globalization: Theological

Ethics in a Pluralistic World (Vol. 3). Her current work includes For China: Comparative Essays on Moral

Leadership and Individual Responsibility.


8. Milton Wan 溫偉耀

Professor Milton Wan received his Doctor of Philosophy (D.Phil.) from Oxford University in modern

German theology and philosophy. And he got a second doctorate (Ph.D.) in Chinese medieval moral

philosophy from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is Professor Emeritus and Honorary Senior

Research Fellow of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Professor Wan is also Dr. Mok Hing Yiu

Distinguished Professor of Theology at the Institute of Sino-Christian Studies and Honorary Researcher of

Center for Asian Theology, University of Toronto. His research interests include transcendent experiences

in Christianity and Chinese culture, modernization and religiosity, modern theology, systematic theology,

Chinese philosophy, inter-religious dialogue, Christianity and Neo-Confucianism, and Christian spirituality.

His recent publications include On Human Goodness and Evil (in Chinese,2015), God and Human

Suffering (in Chinese, 2015)


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9. Zhibin Xie 謝志斌

Zhibin Xie received his Ph.D. from The University of Hong Kong. He is professor of philosophy at Tongji

University, Shanghai. He is a research fellow of Institute of Sino-Christian Studies (Hong Kong), an

honorary research associate of the Centre for Christian Studies at The Chinese University of Hong Kong,

and a member at the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton. His research interests include Christian

philosophy and ethics, public theology, religion and politics in China. His major publications include

Religious Diversity and Public Religion in China (in English, Ashgate, 2006), Public Theology and

Globalization: A Study in Max Stackhouse's Christian Ethics (in Chinese, 2008) and Why Public and

Theological? An Overview and Prospect for Sino-Christian Public Theology (in Chinese, 2016). He serves

as one of editors-in-chief for “Public Theology Series” published by the Institute of Sino-Christian Studies

and one of guest editors for the special issue on “Public Theology in the Chinese Context” by

International Journal of Public Theology (2017).


10. Daniel Yeung 楊熙楠

Daniel Yeung is the Founder and Director of Institute of Sino-Christian Studies (ISCS) in Hong Kong since 1995.

His is also academic consultant of the Institute of Religious Studies, Shanxi Normal University in Xian since

1996, member of academic committee of Journal for the Study of Christian Culture and Journal of Biblical

Literature Studies since 1997, founding academic member of Sezione Cinese, Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan

since 2009, member of academic committee of Institute for Ethics and Religions Studies at Tsinghua

University since 2016, and chief editor (with Huilin Yang) of Journal for the Study of Christian Culture since

2009. He has published a number of essays on the Sino-Christian Theology Movement and Sino-Christian

studies in both Chinese and English..


11. Francis Yip 葉菁華

Prof. Francis Yip received his Th.D. from. Harvard University. He is now associate professor and associate

director of Divinity School of Chung Chi College, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, as well as director

of the Centre for Christian Studies, CUHK. His research interests include Chinese Protestant theology and

practices, Hong Kong Christianity, interactions of Christianity with capitalism and modernity, the religious

and social thought of Paul Tillich, and the doctrinal and mystical theology of Gregory of Nyssa. His

current research projects include “Theology and Politics in Hong Kong Christianity: Sermons, Prayers and

Disputes, 2013-2014” and “Christian discourse with Chinese characteristics: Protestant theology in the

political and cultural context of China, 1980-2010”. His publications include Capitalism as Religion? A

Study of Paul Tillich’s Interpretation of Modernity (in English, 2010); We Believe: A Commentary on the

Nicene Creed (in Chinese, 2014, co-authored with Lung-kwong Lo) and several journal articles.


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PAPERS

Please download at www.cuhk.edu.hk/theology/ccs.

Subject to statutory exception, no reproduction of any part of

this publication may take place without prior written permission.

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http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/theology/ccs

List of Participants

Name Position and Institute

Nigel Biggar Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology, University of Oxford

Shang-Jen Chen Associate Professor, Taiwan Graduate School of Theology

Mao Cheng Th.M. Student, Divinity School of Chung Chi College, CUHK

Ann Gillian Chu Ph.D. (Divinity) Candidate, University of St. Andrews

Dennis Donahue Independent Scholar

Grantham Fernando Senior Volunteer, Tao Fong Shan

Kari Westborg Fernando Senior Volunteer, Tao Fong Shan

Ben Ho Ph.D. Student, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Luping Huang Research Fellow, Sichuan University

Garbo Hui D.Th. Student, Divinity School of Chung Chi College, CUHK

Benjamin Jiang Researcher, Shandong University; Visiting Scholar, Institute of Sino-Christian Studies

Kim Sunghyun Assistant Professor of Lutheran Theological Seminary

Kai-man Kwan Professor, Department of Religion and Philosophy, Hong Kong Baptist University

Pan-chiu Lai Professor, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Zhizhong Liu Ph.D. Student, Nankai University; Visiting Student, Institute of Sino-Christian Studies

Robin Lovin Professor Emeritus of Ethics, Southern Methodist University

William Ng Associate Professor, Department of Religion and philosophy, Hong Kong Baptist University

Diane Obenchain Professor, Fuller Theological Seminary

Ann Ting D.Th. Student, Divinity School of Chung Chi College, CUHK

Milton Wan Research Fellow, ISCS; Honorary Senior Research Fellow, Divinity School of Chung Chi College, CUHK

Zoe Wang Researcher, Minzu University of China; Visiting Scholar, Institute of Sino-Christian Studies

Simon Wiesgickl Professor, Lutheran Theological Seminary

Caihong Xie Ph.D., The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Ganlin Xie Ph.D. Student, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Zhibin Xie Professor of Christian Philosophy and Ethics, Tongji University

Colten Cheuk-Yin Yam Adjunct Assistant Professor, Divinity School of Chung Chi College, CUHK

Daniel Yeung Director, Institute of Sino-Christian Studies

Francis Yip Associate Director, Divinity School of Chung Chi College, CUHK

Chris Zhang Master Student, Sun Yat-sen University;

Visiting Student, Institute of Sino-Christian Studies

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