From Colonialism to Communism: the Christian Church's Response to Hong Kong's 1997 Handover

    Research output: Contribution to conferenceConference paperpeer-review

    Abstract

    What role do theology and ethics have in the public sphere, especially in how Christianity informs politics and political realities in Hong Kong? This paper explores the case study of how Christianity has shaped the ethical outlooks of Hong Kong around the 1997 Handover. The Christian church’s varied response brings forth the question of how the church in Hong Kong can improve its approach to socio-political issues and interactions with the post-colonial Hong Kong government. This paper argues for Hong Kong theologians to develop a theology that is most suitable for the Hong Kong context because it is unique in its situation of decolonisation in comparison to other former colonies. After an introduction to Hong Kong’s colonisation and subsequent decolonisation, its effects on the Christian church and society at large are discussed. This is followed by an analysis of the church’s attempts to interpret and react to the Handover, which points out several different approaches, such as migrating to the Western world, perceiving China as a mission field, and participating in social demonstrations. This paper acknowledges the heavy borrowing of foreign theology, as well as the pragmatism of the Hong Kong people, that leads to a lack of systematic teaching on how Christians should interact with socio-political issues. There is a need for the church to be more helpful to the Hong Kong Christian community and to take a more critical role in society, which in turn requires collaboration with local theologians to shape a theological view that is suitable and helpful for Hong Kong Christians and society at large. The Hong Kong people have unique qualities, and in order to be helpful to the Hong Kong Christian community, Christian churches in Hong Kong need to collaborate with local theologians to shape a theological view that is suitable and helpful for Hong Kong Christians and society at large. By processing politics and political realities through the Christian ethical outlook, it allows for maintaining a dialogue with the government for the Christian church to perform its prophetic role in society.
    Original languageEnglish
    Publication statusPublished - 12 Mar 2021
    EventSociety for the Study of Christian Ethics 2021 Postgraduate Conference: Cities of God: Politics, Theology and Ethics - Online, Oxford, United Kingdom
    Duration: 12 Mar 2021 → …
    Conference number: SSCE 2021
    https://jogts.org/index.php/jogts/issue/view/4

    Conference

    ConferenceSociety for the Study of Christian Ethics 2021 Postgraduate Conference
    Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
    CityOxford
    Period12/03/21 → …
    Internet address

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