The project is the result of almost two years of collaborative effort between the World Christianity Studies and Asymmetrical Dependency (WCSAD) Working Group1 at BCDSS and partners from around the world, especially our colleagues at Princeton Theological Seminary.
All are welcome to join the next WCSAD Table Talk on Tuesday, 15 April 2025, 4–6 p.m. (CET), HYBRID (in person at the Niebuhrstraße 5 Lounge and online via Zoom)!
We will begin the session with a brief discussion of the roundtable, which will be followed by a talk by Dr. Jayabalan Murthy (Post-Doctoral Researcher, Kirchliche Hochschule Wuppertal) titled "Entanglement Between German Christian Missionaries and Indian Revolutionaries During the First World War in NfO."
To register for the Table Talk, please email David B. Smith at dsmith@uni-bonn.de.
More about the new journal issue (“Roundtable”):
In addition to a reflective introduction and editorial on “World Christianity and Asymmetrical Dependency in Dialogue” by Prof. Dr. Raimundo César Barreto, Jr2 (Associate Professor of World Christianity at Princeton Theological Seminary), the issue also includes five articles that explore the relationship between world Christianity studies and asymmetrical dependency research.
In their article titled “Conceptualizing New Horizons for World Christianity and Asymmetrical Dependency Research,” Stephen R. Di Triolio3 (PhD Candidate, Princeton Theological Seminary), David Brandon Smith4 (BCDSS PhD Candidate and Research Associate at Goethe University, Frankfurt/M) and Dr. Julia Winnebeck5 (BCDSS Research Group Leader) lay the conceptual foundations for further reflection on the heuristic benefits of placing world Christianity and asymmetrical dependency research in conversation on the theoretical, methodological and analytical levels. Indeed, this article aims to become a go-to reference text for studies that deploy asymmetrical dependency and world Christianity as analytical concepts to study complex socio-historical phenomena like slavery, colonialism, and Christian mission.
The noted feminist theologian Ivone Gebara and Guilerme Brasil De Souza6 (PhD Student at Princeton Theological Seminary) contributed an English translation of Dr. Gebara’s provocative lecture from the 2024 World Christianity Conference at the University of Ghana titled “The Slow Destruction of the Patriarchal Temples and the Interior Dynamic of the ‘Good News’ from Women.” The issue also includes an article by Prof. em. Dr. Richard Fox Young7 (Timby Professor Emeritus of the History of Religions at Princeton Theological Seminary) titled “Presbyterians and the Cold Truth About the Hot War in North Korea, 1950-53.” While they do not explicitly operate within the frameworks of asymmetrical dependency research, both of these articles demonstrate the relevance of the analytical concept to the study of historical developments, theological constructs, and contemporary social systems.
Deepening the constructive contribution of the ‘Roundtable’ even further, Prof. Dr. Joerg Rieger8 (Distinguished Professor of Theology at Vanderbilt University) provided an article titled “Distinguishing Privilege and Power in Global Christianities: Missionary Conquest, Colonization, and Alternatives.” A contribution by Dr. Matthew R. Robinson9 (Researcher at the University of Bonn) titled, “’World,’ ‘Global,’ and the Reproduction of Asymmetrical Dependencies in the Study of Christianity” concludes the issue. In different but complementary ways, both articles peer through the “lens of asymmetrical dependency theory” to reflect both historically and philosophically on how dependency relations continue to shape knowledge production in the theological academe.