Both of these countries have a rich and long shared history with Christianity. We also have the opportunity to gain some remarkable insights about ourselves because these cultures differ vastly in many ways.

In India Christianity is mainly influenced by a lively exchange with Hinduism that is prevalent in society. These last decades have seen a strong interest in topics like social politics, economy and ethnicity that essentially touch upon equality and justice. Jointly tagged as ‘Theology of the People’ this includes Dalit-Theology, tribe theology and theology of feminism. Together they draw from concepts developed in Liberation Theology. Besides objectively documenting these phenomena there are now endeavors to better understand these lines of thought analyze them in an Indian context.

We find a different situation in china. There a unique and independent thinking about religion was retarded by historical and recent political circumstances. For one the relation between the Gospel and Socialism is important – again touching the issues of justice and equality. Also in recent times one can observe a renewed interest in ‘classical’ religious movements like Confucianism that is at least sanctioned be the ruling political powers. One unique occurrence are so called ‘Sino-Christian’ studies that besides for institutions of the Church are also an interest of people with academic backgrounds. In part the task here is to document and analyze the different lines of thought. In that wake the first literature on that topic was published in Taiwan.

To analyze the manifold phenomena that are the Indian and Chinese culture we rely on an empirical approach for contextual theology to appropriately be able react to an accurate factual basis. This enables us to appreciate the many perspectives on this topic and better grasp the relation between local traditions and intercultural synergies.

We aim to develop prerequisites for a contextual theology that helps us reconcile particular and universal tendencies and at the same time leads us to justified conclusions about contemporary developments.

Responsible for this project is Dr. Markus Luber SJ (luber(at)iwm.sankt-georgen(dot)de)