Naomi Thurston, Moltmann in China: Reception and Dialogue (London: Routledge, 2025).
This landmark study explores how the theology of German theologian Jürgen Moltmann (1926–2024) has been received and reinterpreted within Chinese academic theology. Professor Thurston presents this as a dynamic process of intercultural learning and dialogue, engaging Western intellectual history, Marxist thought, political philosophy, and comparative studies.
As Chloë Starr, Professor at Yale Divinity School, notes:
“This study is a landmark evaluation of Moltmann’s engagement with China and Chinese engagement with Moltmann. From eco-theology to political theology to Marxist dialectics, Moltmann’s work has left a significant impression on China over the last four decades, and Thurston’s 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. Thurston’s work raises broad questions about theological dialogue, construction, and transmission that reach well beyond Sino-Christian theology.”
The book explores the reception of the German theologian Jürgen Moltmann (1926–2024) in the context of Chinese academic theology.
The author introduces the reception of Moltmann’s theology in Chinese contexts as a dialogic process of intercultural learning and theological meaning-making, encompassing readings of Western intellectual history, Marxist dialogue, political philosophy, and comparative studies. By thus presenting Moltmann studies in Chinese scholarship as an interactive, interdisciplinary conversation between contemporary Chinese intellectuals and Western Christianity, the present theological reception history argues for the full inclusion and deeper appreciation of Chinese scholarly voices and perspectives in the transmission, reconstruction, and reimagining of contemporary Western theology in Chinese contexts. Featuring a representative array of academic texts on Moltmann in the Chinese academy over the past four decades, the book highlights the unique critical potential of these cross-cultural, interdisciplinary exchanges.
The book will appeal to academics, postgraduate students, and theologians interested in world Christianity, contextual theology, Jürgen Moltmann, and intercultural dialogue.
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003564102/moltmann-china-naomi-thurston
