By Easten Law
Dr. Easten Law is Associate Director of OMSC, Co-Editor of the International Bulletin of Mission Research, and Lead Instructor & Designer for OMSC’s Online Certificate in Lived Theology & World Christianity. Easten’s research focuses on lived theology, religious pluralism, and public life in the context of contemporary China, the Global East, and the larger Sinophone world. He completed his doctorate in theological and religious studies from Georgetown University in 2020 examining how Chinese Christian faith is experienced, negotiated, and expressed in everyday life across cultural and religious boundaries.
This post is the second in a series of three highlighting the scholarship, structure, and partnerships that are developing around OMSC’s new online certificate program in lived theology and world Christianity. This first post (read here) presents Law’s proposed definition for lived theology in the context of world Christianity. This second post explores the genesis of OMSC’s online certificate program via Law’s experiences as a doctoral student, spotlights a recent student’s experiences and research, and presents a new “glocal” structure for advancing the certificate program’s learning experience with partners in Accra, Ghana, and Manila, Philippines.
COLLECTING THE SEEDS: MY OWN PATH TO LIVED THEOLOGY & WORLD CHRISTIANITY
In my previous post, I proposed a definition for the relationship between lived theology and world Christianity as an academic endeavor grounded in some of the recent scholarship. Behind such reasoning and literature, however, is always some degree of personal experience. For me, the beginnings of this inquiry and proposal were seeded during my dissertation studies at Georgetown University. Studying under Dr. Peter Phan, a leading theological voice in world Christianity, I was challenged by what I perceived to be his persistent call to ground theological reasoning in the lived experiences of the church. Phan’s essay regarding the “liturgy of life as the summit and source” of theological knowledge became a persistent drumbeat that steadied the rhythm of my thinking. Phan states,
“the liturgy of life consists of experiences of God, available to all human beings, in the midst of life and in all concrete situations, from the most sublime to the most mundane, both positive and negative. It is called ‘liturgy’ because these experiences are always sustained by God’s self-gift to the world.”[1]
Yet, on a practical level, it was difficult to manifest this approach. In the context of Georgetown, I found ample resources in religious studies and sociology of religion that took seriously the lived experiences of devout Christians from a diversity of backgrounds. Opportunities to examine the theological import of these studies were, however, not always readily available. Despite the program’s best intentions to integrate theological and religious studies, the disciplinary boundaries remained thick enough to obstruct a fully integrated approach.
In response, I drew upon previous studies to build out my methodological toolbox. Before my doctoral studies, I had studied Intercultural Studies (i.e. Missiology or Mission Studies) at Wheaton College, which introduced me to qualitative fieldwork and its use in evangelism and discipleship from a outwardly focused evangelical standpoint. This approach, however, tended to be theologically constrained that did not fully engage the complexities of living faith around the world. During my M.Div. studies at Wesley Theological Seminary, Dr. Mary Clark Moschella expanded my worldview by introducing ethnography as a pastoral practice which led me to robust studies in lived religion and practical theology.[2] These perspectives provided me an inward focus on ecclesial life, an orientation represented by many working within the Ecclesiology and Ethnography Network.
For my dissertation work, I combined these self-gathered resources from missiology and practical theology with Dr. Phan’s theological acumen, Dr. Jose Casanova’s global sociological imagination, and Dr. Becky Hsu’s qualitative methodological know-how to piece together a project that fit my conception of what lived theology in the context of world Christianity might look like. Since completing my degree, I have come to realize that the gap I experienced was not mine alone. Many in my cohort of emerging scholars have witnessed similar points of tension and are also building new pathways for multi and inter-disciplinary thinking in theology. Over time, it also became apparent that many church leaders and young theologians from the global south were also curious to explore similar questions. Far from being alone, I was just one wonderer among many.
TILLING THE SOIL: CREATING NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR LIVED THEOLOGY IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH
This negotiation between disciplines and guilds and the growing fellowship of like-minded scholars I have met provided the fertile soil from which to plant and grow OMSC’s online certificate in lived theology and world Christianity. Seeking to ground principles and methods of lived theology within the diverse contexts of the world, OMSC has endeavored to build a program that introduces theology and qualitative research to emerging scholars of the global south with both contextual sensitivity and missiological drive. Some of the program’s fruits have already been featured here on The Occasional as well as on the Princeton Seminary Quad here and here.
Of the dozen students who have participated in the program during the past two years, Fwangmum Oscar Danladi’s experience stands out as an exemplar of the kind of lived theologians OMSC seeks to equip and support. Working with Dr. Francis Kwabena Benyah as a research mentor, Oscar interviewed pastoral leaders in the rural north central of Nigeria who have been serving displaced populations affected by civil unrest and violence to discern elements of their lived theology. His research report, “Understanding Lived Faith Experiences Amidst Violence: A Case Study of ECWA Churches in Mangu/Bokkos LGA, Nigeria,” highlights the ways pastors weave experiences of persecution into their theologies while also negotiating perceptions of their ties to ancestral lands and complexities of inter-religious family relationships. You can watch his final presentation in the recording below.
Since completing OMSC’s online certificate program as well as a Th.M. from Princeton Theological Seminary, Oscar continues his scholarship as a Ph.D. student in religious studies at the University of Iowa. As he begins his doctoral studies, OMSC is proud to have provided him a perspective into lived theology and world Christianity with tools that he can apply to his scholarship in ways that are not only academically sound but also meets the needs of churches in Nigeria. Hear more from Oscar’s experience of the online certificate program here:
PLANTING NEW GARDENS: EXTENDING OPPORTUNITY THROUGH LEARNING HUBS
OMSC has long history of creative engagement with theological education. We are flexible enough to respond quickly to the needs of the world church and strong enough to convene new partnerships for collaboration. Today, our work at Princeton Seminary is no different. Each year, we tend to the growth of our programs to extend their reach and strengthen their impact.
This year, our online certificate program introduces an extension of the curriculum through “glocal” learning hubs based in Ghana and the Philippines. OMSC is proud to work with The Sanneh Institute and De La Salle University to establish on-site learning hubs for participants of the 2024-25 cohort based in the metro Accra and Manila regions. These hubs operate “glocally” because while hub participants engage the program’s curriculum globally via the internet, they also meet in person as a group with dedicated mentors to apply material and shape research in response to local concerns.
When meeting together in Accra under the facilitation of Dr. Matthew Krabill, students discuss content in a manner that is focused on the context of ministry and theology in Ghana using the Sanneh Institute’s characteristic strengths in interreligious understanding. When gathering at De La Salle University with Dr. Fides Del Castillo, Manila based learning hub students focus their discussion on questions pertaining to life in the Philippines using lenses like Dr. Del Castillo’s conception of laylayan theology.[3] Through these glocal learning hubs, the methods that animate lived theology are taking root in Ghanian and Philippine soil like new gardens being planted and cultivated.
As an emerging discourse that is still finding its foundation among other theological disciplines, lived theology is still open to interpretation, especially when set in the context of the world church. OMSC at Princeton Seminary is situating itself to become both a network for connecting diverse voices engaging this topic and a platform to amplify them. In the next installment of this three-part series, we will hear from Dr. Matthew Krabill, who leads the Accra learning hub. His post will explore the long precedence of lived theology in African Christianity and how this legacy converges with today’s work via the Accra learning hub.
[1] Peter Phan, “Liturgy of Life as Summit and Source of Eucharistic Liturgy” in Being Religious Interreligiously: Asian Perspectives on Interfaith Dialogue (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Press 2004), 269.
[2] In particular, see Mary Clark Moschella, Ethnography as a Pastoral Practice, 2nd edition (London, UK: SCM Press, 2023).
[3] See also Fides Del Castillo, “Laylayan Theology: Listening to the Voices from the Margins” Religions 13, no. 5: 391 (2022). https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13050391