Category: News & Talks

At the Thomas H. Olbricht Christian Scholars’ Conference, themed “Christian Scholarship as Tangible Good,” I presented on how theology, the sciences, and the world’s religions can be drawn into a single constructive conversation for the global church. The paper “Theology–Science–Religion ‘Trialogue’ as Tangible Good for the Global Church’s Engagement with Science and Religions.” Abstract The…

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At the Third International Wolfhart Pannenberg Symposium I offered a sympathetic yet critical reading of Pannenberg on angels and demons, arguing that his engagement with the natural sciences led him to underplay the personal character of spiritual powers. The paper “Critique of Wolfhart Pannenberg’s Angelology and Diabology: Toward a Constructive Theology of Spiritual Powers in…

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In May 2026 I presented at the Symposium on Watchman Nee, hosted by the Cambridge Centre for Chinese Theology at the University of Cambridge. My paper examined the British roots of Nee’s doctrine of sanctification and the way he critically appropriated them for the global church that continues in his teaching today. The paper “Watchman…

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I returned to my alma mater, Tsinghua University—in the year of its 115th anniversary—to present at the symposium “Truth and Illusion: The Religious Meaning in the Digital-Intelligence Age,” hosted by the Department of Philosophy. The paper reads the Tang-dynasty Jingjiao (Luminous Religion) alongside contemporary artificial intelligence through the lens of Embodied Critical Realism. The paper…

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At the Pacific Systematic Theology Colloquium, whose 2026 theme was “Atonement Understood,” I presented a study of atonement in Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, read through the clusters of biblical metaphors by which they describe reconciliation, with deification as its goal. The paper “Metaphors in Watchman Nee and Witness Lee’s Doctrine of Atonement with Deification…

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Responding to the conference theme “Theology: A Discipline of Failure?”, I argued that Chinese theology has failed to engage the spirit world—in Scripture and in Chinese religious life alike—and proposed Watchman Nee’s work as a resource for repairing that neglect. The paper “Failure of Chinese Theology in Engaging with the Spirit(s): Towards Constructive Pneumatology for…

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Jesus Christ is without doubt the beginning and end of Pentecostal theology and spirituality. Every experience of God that has come to define the history of Pentecostalism is at the core a witness to the presence and power of Jesus. And as the Pentecostal movement has grown and expanded, so has its witness to Christ.…

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Dr. Alexis Balmont and Tianyi Yuan of the Hong Kong Institute of Jingjiao Studies interviewed me for my book, Science, Religion(s), and Spirit(s) in China: A Constructive Chinese Theology of Creation based on Jingjiao’s Qi-tological Theology, with A New Translation of the Entire Tang Jingjiao Corpus in March 2026.

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At the Annual Meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies I presented a comparative study of prayer, tears, and the spirit world in two figures of Chinese Christianity—Watchman Nee and Jing Dianying, founder of the Jesus Family movement. The paper “Prayer and Tears against Dryness in Humanity: Watchman Nee and Jing Dianying’s Spiritualities and Their…

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At the Annual Meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies, my book was the subject of an author-meets-critics panel, “The Spirit/s of Chinese Christianity: A Book Discussion Panel,” held alongside Joel Daniels’ China’s Indwelling Spirit. I am grateful to Amos Yong for convening the panel and to Xiaoli Yang and Alex Mayfield for their generous…

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