You are cordially invited to our next China Lunch Lecture Series talk by Dr. Quan (Luke) Li:

Divine Transcendence and the Liberal Revolt against Communist Violence

15 June 2023, 12:15 p.m. – 13:45 p.m. (CEST)

Room 2.2051, Holzlaube, Fabeckstr. 23-25, 14195 Berlin (Freie Universität Berlin)

Abstract

For the past three decades, the Sino-Christian theology movement has shaped the public voice of the Christian intellectual community in contemporary China. Scholars generally accept that the movement was launched by Liu Xiaofeng and other cultural Christians in response to moral crises during the reform era and in pursuit of a transcendent source of morality. In this lecture, I suggest a corrective account of the intellectual origins of the movement by rediscovering Liu's early attempt at developing the notion of divine transcendence. I offer a close reading of key works by Liu Xiaofeng and examine the role of divine transcendence in his liberal critique of massive and extreme violence under revolutionary Communism. In this way, I explore how the Christian notion of divine transcendence informs Liu Xiaofeng’s distinct approaches to violence and, meanwhile, is shaped by his revolutionary experiences and identities.