Dr Alexander Chow (FHEA)

Senior Lecturer in Theology and World Christianity

Biography

Background

Alexander Chow is an American-born Chinese who was raised in Southern California.  He completed his PhD in theology at the University of Birmingham, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Renmin University of China, where he was doing research in Chinese Christianity and teaching in the School of Liberal Arts before he joined the University of Edinburgh in September 2013. He is co-director of the Centre for the Study of World Christianity, co-editor of the journal Studies in World Christianity (Edinburgh University Press), and editor of the Chinese Christianities book series (Notre Dame Press).

Alex has written a number of articles on Christianity in China, and more broadly, in East Asia. He has written two books, Theosis, Sino-Christian Theology and the Second Chinese Enlightenment (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013; Chinese edition: Institute of Sino-Christian Studies, 2015) and Chinese Public Theology: Generational Shifts and Confucian Imagination in Chinese Christianity (Oxford University Press, 2018).

Qualifications

BS MA ThM PhD FHEA

Responsibilities & affiliations

Co-director, Centre for the Study of World Christianity

Co-editor, Studies in World Christianity (Edinburgh University Press)

Book Series Editor, Chinese Christianities (Notre Dame Press)

Chair, Chinese Christianities Program Unit (American Academy of Religion)

Undergraduate teaching

  • THET08014 Christian Theology: Approaches and Themes
  • THET08017 Christian Theology: Doctrines and Debates
  • THET10058 Theologies in Global Contexts

Postgraduate teaching

  • WRCH11018 Selected Themes in the Study of World Christianity
  • WRCH11019 Christianity in Asia, 1700 to the Present
  • WRCH11020 Theologies of World Christianity

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Current PhD students supervised

  • Calida Chu, ‘Public Theology in Post-97 Hong Kong from an Anabaptist Perspective’

  • Nuam Hatzaw, ‘A Zomi Women’s Critique of Asian Feminist Theology: Towards a Theology for Zomi Women in Chin State, Myanmar’

  • Tore Johnsen, ‘Sami Contextual Theology from an Indigenous People’s Perspective’

  • Quan Li, ‘Conceptions of Responsibility and Visions of the Common Life: A Comparative Study of Karl Barth and Mou Zongsan’

  • Jin (Jane) Meng, ‘The Rebirth of Christian Mysticism in Chinese Theology: A Study on the Spirituality of Jia Yuming’

  • Andrew David Ong, ‘Chinese American Evangelicals: Models of Contextual Theology’

  • Da (Daniel) Qin, ‘The Theological Evolution of Contemporary Chinese Protestant Christianity’

  • Robert Alec Simpson, ‘Gifts from the World’

  • Dingjian (James) Xie, ‘Jingjiao Theology: translation, doctrine and religious practice in Tang China (618-907)’

Research summary

Alex's research interests mainly revolve around the following:

  • Contextual theology (esp. in East Asia)
  • Christianity in China
  • Chinese philosophy and religion
  • Public theology
  • Digital theology

Affiliated research centres

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