This study is a landmark evaluation of Moltmanns engagement with China and Chinese engagement with Moltmann. From eco-theology to political theology to Marxist dialectics, Moltmanns work has left a significant impression on China over the last four decades, and Thurstons fascinating study illuminates the networks of scholars, institutions, and intellectual histories involved in creating this imprint. The keynote is dialogue: in refuting Schmitt, engaging Daoism, or intervening in surprising ways in the debate on ancestor veneration, Moltmann emerges as a keen advocate of Chinese theology. Thurstons work raises broad questions about theological dialogue, construction, and transmission that reach well beyond Sino-Christian theology.
Chloë Starr, Professor of Asian Christianity and Theology at Yale Divinity School
Thurston has researched the reception of Jürgen Moltmanns theology in the Chinese humanities from the perspective of a first-person participant. Readers will discover that Chinese academic theology has not been captive to German theology but, rather, with the ongoing development of Sino-Christian theology in its critical and mutually constructive dialogue with theological interlocutors such as Moltmann, has been growing and thriving, leaving its mark on Chinese academia through creative transformation.
Daniel Yeung, Founding Director, Institute of Sino-Christian Studies, Hong Kong
